


I Knew I Loved You

by Mellowyellowdiamonds



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), olicity - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Happily Ever After ending though, Olicity fairytale, fluffy Olicity au, gets a bit tragic in chapter 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-03-23 21:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13796358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellowyellowdiamonds/pseuds/Mellowyellowdiamonds
Summary: One night while trying to retrieve her prototype Felicity has an accident and wakes up to find herself stuck in an archaic world living a life that is foreign to her. Realising that there is no escape Felicity tries to forge a life for herself before a chance meeting with Oliver once again changes her destiny.Smitten with the beautiful and intelligent girl who saves his life Oliver pursues her however their happiness is fleeting when they both realise that Felicity's time in this world is limited and sometimes you're at the mercy of the universe to find each other again.An Olicity AU inspired by the Chinese drama Scarlet Heart.*******Bonus Chapter 5 about the "Other" Olicity has been added***





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Folks
> 
> Back with another one! This one will have four parts and will be updated every fortnight.
> 
> I have been fascinated with the Chinese drama Scarlet Heart which is set in the Qing dynasty so I REALLY had to wrack my brains and somehow adapt it into an Olicity fic for those of you brave enough to read it.
> 
> I initially intended for this to be a tragic love story with them being separated in the end but after chapter 2 I didn't have the heart to go through with that ending and have managed to find a way for a satisfactory Happily Ever After.
> 
> hehe you may notice all the warning tags are gone!
> 
> The actual Chinese drama goes on forever and has a lot of love triangles and power struggles none of which will happen here. This will be a pure Olicity love story with no triangles or devious plots. 
> 
> I grew up on Chinese series so it means a lot to share some of my culture with you.

“Felicity come out to dinner with us,” Ray coaxed on the other end of the line. “Zari’s picked some rib place. Guaranteed fat and salt and way too much red meat. You’ll love it.”

“Next week I promise. I’m almost done Ray. Just a few more adjustments and I can test it out this weekend. You have got to leave me alone and let me have this weekend okay,” Felicity responded still focused intently on the little A4 sized panel she was working on.

“You’re not going to try and test it are you? DON’T test it alone. You should have people around or something,” Ray’s voice was full of concern, which Felicity waved off casually.

“Pffft I’ll be fine. Don’t go all mother hen on me. No misfortunes can be had from testing out a solar panel. I’ve got to go now Ray. Enjoy date night with your wife! Order the full rack! Live a little,” Felicity called out cheerfully and loudly to let him know that she was about to hang up on him.

“Felicity you built that thing to store and harvest three times the energy of ten full sized solar panels. That much power needs to be handled carefully. At least test it when someone is around.”

“This isn’t my first time testing it Ray. I’ve run three trials on it and it’s been absolutely fine. Stop worrying. Enjoy your weekend; stop ringing me to lecture about health and safety. I will be back on Monday for the board meeting just like always. Bye Ray!” 

Felicity hung up before he had a chance to respond and smiled to herself. Bless Ray and his fear of her blowing herself up whenever she worked on a prototype. Felicity knew his paranoia did not come from a place of disrespect for her but rather that Ray himself had had far too many incidents and injuries while working on his prototypes. Although no physical harm had ever come to Felicity, it was almost as if Ray expected her solar panel to blow up at anytime.

The solar panel, the key component to her project, dubbed “Project Sunshine” by Ray, was Felicity’s brainchild, one of her very first working ideas since she decided to step aside from programming to branch out into something new. She was still overseeing the Software Development Division, which pulled in ridiculous amounts of money, allowing her the freedom to fund projects like this one. Coding would always be her first love but Felicity couldn’t deny the thrill she felt whenever she tinkered with her new “baby”. Her baby, which was hopefully going to revolutionize the way electricity was generated and drastically reduce the carbon footprint fossil fuels left behind. Somewhere in the back of her mind Felicity was vaguely aware that she was doing this for the polar bears. Poor things with their melted ice caps. It was literally what she often thought about when she worked on this project.

Satisfied with her handwork Felicity carefully packed up her little panel and headed out of her make shift laboratory/coding space which she had set up in one of the three bedrooms of her cosy little home in Ivy Town. She was going to change into some pants and attach her panel to the roof. It was time to see if she could power her entire house with her invention.

***

Felicity had lost count of the times she rolled over on her bed as the rain continued to pound down outside. She was being irrational she thought to herself. It was a solar panel, designed to stay on her roof through all kinds of weather. And it had worked beautifully all of today when the sun was out. This was a win and she was being stupid by obsessing over whether the storm was going to damage this object that was clearly designed to withstand storms.

Still the more she thought about it and the closer the thunder rumbled near her home, Felicity couldn’t help wondering if it was too much of a risk to leave her one and only prototype out in this storm. She had the plans and the designs to build another one but nothing could really beat having a working model if they were to try to mass-produce the panels. She should at least get another one built before she subjected it to vigorous testing.

Felicity sat up and stared out of her window. The rain had eased somewhere but the sky was a strange bright purple. They predicted hail late this afternoon. She had ignored it at first, largely because she was too excited about testing the panel and because the weather reporting in Ivy Town was notoriously inaccurate. Still the oddly bright lavender sky made her uneasy. Letting out a frustrated huff, Felicity put on a pink hoody and pulled on a pair of pink sweatpants. She’ll just detached the solar panel and bring it in. Just in case.

It wasn’t dark, the peculiar lavender sky and well-lit street where she lived meant that there was plenty of light for Felicity to see what she was doing. She was almost on the top rung of the ladder; just another step and she would be able to haul herself onto the roof quite comfortably. However unbeknownst to Felicity some water, which had accumulated on the leaves of the nearby tree branch found it’s way onto the steps of her ladder causing her foot to slide off as she took that last step. In that terrifying moment Felicity could feel her body tip backwards as she braced to hit the ground. And then there was nothing but darkness.

***

“Felicity,” a voice whispered to her as a hand shook her gently. “Felicity,” the voice spoke again this time a little more firmly. Felicity could once again feel a pair of hands shaking her gently.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She felt a little disoriented and there was a dull pain in her head but surprisingly there was no pain anywhere else on her body. Either she was dosed up with some powerful drugs or the fall wasn’t as bad as she had thought it would be. The fall. Felicity remembered it. Remembered falling off her roof while trying to retrieve her solar panel. The revelation sent a burst of hope through her. If she remembered her fall and everything about it then she definitely wasn’t badly injured. There didn’t seem to be any memory loss or permanent damage at least.

Immediately she tried to fight off the grogginess and sit up, jostling around to test out her limbs. Everything was moving and nothing was in pain. She could feel every limb too, which was a great thing. It looked like she had come out unscathed despite falling from a considerable height. Someone must have found her quickly and gotten her to hospital.

She pulled herself upright expecting to see one of her neighbours, hospital staff, Ray or Zari only to find herself face to face with her mother. Felicity blinked. What was her mother doing here? Surely they didn’t call her to fly all the way from Vegas because Felicity fell down a ladder and Donna couldn’t have been the one to discover her after she had fallen. Her next trip out to visit her mother was scheduled in December to get away from the cold in Ivy Town and also to celebrate the holidays together.

Felicity blinked in confusion and swiveled her head only to get the shock of her life. Peering down at her, his brow creased with worry and fear was her father, a man whom she hadn’t seen since he walked out of their lives when she was seven. Felicity stared at him for a good few seconds before redirecting her gaze back to Donna, wondering how the latter was reacting to her father reappearing suddenly.

“Felicity darling you’re awake. We were so worried about you sweetheart,” Noah said gently, before bending down to give her a warm teddy bear hug. Too shell-shocked to do anything Felicity froze in his arms only to have her mother jostle him away second later. Donna launched herself at Felicity and hugged her fiercely.

“Baby girl, thank goodness you’re alright. Is anything hurting? The physician we sent for told us nothing was broken but you’ve been unconscious for almost two days now and your father has been out of his mind with worry. We were about to send for another physician when you woke up.” Her mother moved a few inches away and began smoothing out Felicity’s hair.

“Donna dear, let’s not crowd her. Give her some space to breath,” her dad urged, taking her mom’s hand and gently leading her off the bed. Felicity stared in bewilderment when her mom took his hand, gave it a small squeeze and moved off the bed to stand next to her father, one of her arms casually wrapping around his waist. 

“Dad? What are you doing here?” Felicity finally blurted out, not knowing what else to say.

“Your mom and I were checking up on you darling. We were discussing the matter of a second physician when you woke up. Is anything hurting darling?” Her father watched her carefully, his voice and expression full of concern.

It was then that Felicity took a good proper look at them. Her parents were dressed in what could only be described as some sort of creative cosplay costumes. Her mother wore what looked like yellow robes, with sleeves that were as big as bath towels made from a light floating material, much like chiffon that was adorned with delicate embroidery all over. A yellow sash two shades darker in colour clinched around her waist.

Her father was also dressed in robes, albeit made from sturdier looking navy fabric and, unlike Donna’s garb his sleeves were fitted. He too also wore an embroidered navy sash around his waist. Whoever designed these costumes had a thing for sashes obviously.

The initial shock had worn off and Felicity was finally able to focus on her surroundings. She was in a small little room, furnished very simply with a little dressing table, a wardrobe, the wooden bed she was sitting on and a small desk with one chair. This was not her room. In fact this looked nothing like a hospital either and the wooden bed looked like it was something that came from a history book. And most bizarrely of all she could see perfectly despite not wearing her glasses. Felicity touched her face in astonishment. 

“Where am I? Why are you even here Dad? I haven’t seen you for a decade. What are you doing here? Was it because of my accident? And why are you two dressed like you are off to a costume party?”

Her parents locked eyes and gave each other a knowing look that Felicity found intriguing. This was not a look exchanged by two people who had nothing to do with each other for more than a decade. It was a look shared by a couple who were close, who knew each other’s thoughts and who seemed very worried about her.

“Darling there was an accident and you fell down from the roof,” her father said gently. “Do you remember anything?”

“Yes there was a predicted hailstorm that night so I climbed to the roof to try and retrieve my one and only prototype and I slipped and fell.” Felicity relayed the information to them, watching their expressions carefully to try and gauge what exactly was going on in their minds. 

“Yes darling you were climbing the roof doing one of your crazy experiments when you fell. But this was in the afternoon baby girl, not at night. We absolutely forbid you to leave the house at night as indulgent as your father is about your unseemly obsession with doing experiments.” Donna shot Noah a disapproving look as she said this. Clearly this was a contentious issue between them.

“Not allowed to get out of bed? Mom this is insane. Either I’m still suffering from the effects of my fall or…or…I don’t know what’s going on. Why is he here after all these years?” Felicity pointed to her father who looked utterly shocked and then upset by her words.

“Darling I think you’re still a little disoriented from the fall so you’re spouting nonsense. I’ve never ever left you darling. All these years, all the time we’ve spent together. It’s always just been the three of us and you’ve been very happy.” Noah’s voice was gentle, addressing her as if she had gone out of her mind. Felicity made a move to climb off the bed when she suddenly stared at herself. She was in robes too. Plain white cotton robes without the giant loose sleeves and no sash. It looked like a long sleeve nightgown.

Quickly she raised a hand and felt her face, briefly wondering if all this was real. Felicity pinched her cheek and to her relief it hurt. She ran her hands along the bed, slowly moving along touching each piece of furniture while her parents stared at her in dismay.

“We need to send for that physician,” Donna whispered to her father.

“Let’s give her a few days. See how she behaves and then send for the physician. It was a big fall and she’s just woken up. We might just need to accept that she may never quite be herself again.” 

“What year is this and who am I?” Felicity asked as she turned to face her parents. She had examined the room and everything felt completely and utterly real. She knew who she was; there was no doubt about that. She still remembered everything about her childhood, her college years, and the multimillion-dollar company she built and ran with Ray. What mattered right now was trying to work out what kind of world she was stuck in and who she was in it. 

***

Felicity Megan Kuttler, that’s who she was in this world, daughter of Noah and Donna Kuttler. Her father was some sort of bookkeeper who handled the business affairs of all the merchants in town and her mother was a homemaker. By homemaker Felicity meant that Donna stayed home to watch over her to see that she was learning the appropriate skills that would allow her to be suitably married off one day. They lived a comfortable middle class existence it seemed with two household staff who took take of the chores and taught “Miss Felicity” as she was known how to run the house. 

Much to Donna’s frustration Felicity often flatly refused to cook, sew or play instruments instead choosing to bury herself in the library, trying to learn as much as she could about this new world she was stuck in.

What was most intriguing and disheartening was the scarce amount of information available about this world. People seemed to simply exist without much awareness about their history. The few times she had quizzed her mother and even her father about her existence, trying to gauge whether she had existed in their world before her accident, her parents had treated her like she was losing her mind, citing stories from her childhood and once again reiterating how lucky they were to all live a peaceful existence under the protection of their Emperor the Green Arrow.

A physician was often called in to examine her a few days later whenever she took to this line of questioning. It soon became apparent that she wasn’t going to find answers from her parents or from anyone really and Felicity started to worry that more curly questions would result in additional visits from various physicians. Who knows what would happen to her after a few visits too many. Her parents in this world appeared to love her, despite their frustration at her seemingly having lost her marbles but Felicity decided she no longer wanted to tempt fate. In this archaic society they might very well lock her up, let out her blood or perform some other death inducing “therapy” on her. 

Felicity decided it was only prudent to accept the role that she was thrust into in this world, learn more about it and hopefully try to find her way home with the help of science. Fortunately for Felicity her parents accepted a certain level of quirkiness from her. It was universally accepted by the household that Felicity Megan Kuttler was not a conformist and tales of her childhood as told to her by her father revealed that Felicity had given Donna many grey hairs with her love of science and obsession with experimentation and invention. Felicity burst out in genuine laughter for the first time since being stranded here when she heard that story. So she was still a bit of a nerd even in an alternate universe. There was something very reassuring about that. 

***

“I don’t think we should leave her,” her mother’s voice could be heard from the little sitting room. Felicity stopped short just outside the door, her ears perked up with interest. She had just come up to the main house from her father’s abandoned work shed.

In his youth Noah had dabbled in constructing things before giving it up to utilize his mathematic skills in the more lucrative bookkeeping profession. Felicity finding herself stuck in this ancient world where everything was antiquated and there was virtually zero technology had sought solace in Noah’s old shed, using his old tools and drawing on her knowledge from her real life to work on projects of her own. She felt like if she didn’t do something every day her mind would turn into mush and she’d lose herself. 

Donna’s prime objective for her was to look pretty, run the house smoothly and marry well. Even her father, who seemed to understand her a bit better and consequently was more indulgent and sympathetic to her hobbies would sometimes reiterate the importance of ensuring she was a desirable candidate for marriage. If she was stuck here for the rest of her days, Felicity was going to have to formulate a plan to get out of that particular pickle. She wondered how receptive they were to old spinsters in this world. She certainly had no desire to date (or court whatever they called it here) much less marry anyone in this god forsaken place. If she had to live out the rest of her days here she was going to be a self-sufficient old maid.

“Her mind is starting to heal. She’s stopped asking strange questions and acting like we aren’t her parents at least,” her father responded.

“She keeps spending time down in that dirty old shed of yours.”

“You know she’s always loved making things. And she’s not doing badly for someone who has lost all her memories. She’s really trying not to make waves. I think she’ll be all right for a week without us. Kacey and Lotty will take care of her while we’re gone.”

“She was never great at cooking or interested in anything I had to teach her but now she’s taken to hiding in that shed doing god knows what all day. If she doesn’t stop acting so strange all she’s going to have left to rely on are her looks. Thank goodness nothing happened to her face when she fell. With the way she is she’s going to need that beautiful face. That and her figure is all she has to her advantage right now. If word gets out that there’s something wrong with her mind…..” Donna sounded genuinely distressed. 

Normally this kind of comment would be met with scorn from Felicity but after a few weeks of living in this world with it’s limitations, Felicity could understand why her mother was fretting about her. Hopefully in time she could build something worthwhile and convince Donna that she didn’t need to marry well or depend on a man for her livelihood. That being said, Felicity couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at the comment about her looks. Felicity had never given her looks much thought, yet in this world they were the focus of everyone she met. She was apparently considered a “beauty” in these parts; an expression that sounded like it came straight out of a Jane Austen novel. She had always been comfortable with her appearance; confident with the knowledge that she looked decent but never dreamed that her looks were actually an asset to her. Which made it all the more jarring when everyone she ran into repeatedly commented on what a “beauty” she was, or worse try to introduce their sons to her. She had always valued her brain but it appears that she could have just relied on her looks if she wanted to.

“You don’t know how to cook and I still married you. We’re still young and healthy Donna, we have time to sort Felicity out and make sure she’s well taken care of when we’re gone. It’s just one week away on the seaside. After everything we’ve been through with Felicity, I think it will do us some good to get away.” 

“It would be nice to spend some time alone with you and stop fretting about her latest odd behavior,” Donna agreed with her husband. “Let’s do it Noah. Let’s go to the seaside.”

Outside the room, Felicity danced on the spot and did a fist pump. A week of no one to keep an eye on her, no cooking lessons, no one to make her wear those over elaborate dresses with 10 layers in hot weather. No more sashes. Felicity briefly wondered if she could burn those sashes while Donna was away but decided against it. That would surely just lead to her being locked up somewhere. 

***

“So hot,” Felicity muttered to herself as she trudged along the woods. Heading home from town she opted to go through the woods thinking that the thick green canopy of the trees would provide her with shade and keep her cool. Instead it was warm and humid, the air feeling like it was thick with water.

“This is what it must feel like to wander around in a rainforest,” she thought to herself. She had completely underestimated how warm these ghastly robes were despite picking the thinnest fabric she could find. This floaty, heavily embroidered pink fabric did not breath. It sure as hell felt like polyester even though Felicity knew polyester and plastic weren’t utilized in this word. Unable to walk any further Felicity took off the elaborate outer layer of her outfit. Donna would have a fit if she knew her daughter was currently stomping through overgrown woods in her underclothes.

A good hour had elapsed before Felicity passed by a little lake, signaling that she was about half way home. Vowing to learn to ride and borrow a horse next time, Felicity stopped by the lake to rest and sooth her weary feet in its cool waters.

Two wet feet led to two wet knees and pretty soon after that Felicity discarded her clothes on the shore to frolic in the water which wasn’t as murky as she had thought it would be. There was a certain freedom to being able to laze around naked in the water. Nudity was only permissible during bath time in this word it seems and she didn’t dare strip off for bed like she usually did at home. Living with her parents and two housekeepers really cramped her style. It depressed her to think that as long as she was stuck here she was relegated to this life.

Pushing away all her negative thoughts, Felicity waded around the lake, enjoying the cool and light sensation whilst still keeping a sharp eye out for any unwelcome water creatures. She may have been enjoying her skinny dip but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to high tail it should any of nature’s wonders come at her. 

A creature was not what made her flinch suddenly. No this looked like a human arm. Dangling from the edge on the other side of the lake. For a split second Felicity froze as her eyes were fixated on what looked like a limp arm that was touching the water. Her first thought was to jump to the conclusion that it was a corpse. Dear lord she was swimming around in a lake with a corpse that was touching the water. 

As terrified as she was, her unyielding curious nature took over and instead of frantically swimming away from the arm, Felicity found herself gingerly paddling towards it. She let out a sigh of relief at the sight that greeted her. Judging by the skin tone this was not a corpse but an unconscious person. Felicity waded a little closer to the shoreline to get a better look.

A man, who looked like he was in his thirties, dressed in what looked like a green leather suit was passed out and bleeding on the edge of the lake. Straight away Felicity sprang into action, her mind quickly running through the first aid course Gerry her assistant had organized for everyone to attend the previous year at Smoak Palmer Technologies. 

She checked his breathing, no problems there he was taking steady even breaths. She observed him quickly and decided those clothes needed to go. Climbing on top of him Felicity began to peel off his thick leather suit. Why anyone in their right mind would be wearing leather in this climate was beyond her, still she had accepted the fact that she found most things strange in this world. 

After some effort Felicity managed to pry off his jacket. She glanced down at his tight leather pants and decided they were to stay on. They were funny about modesty in this world and the last thing she wanted was for this fellow to wake up and accuse her of taking advantage of him. Those pants looked like they’d take some time to strip off anyway and at this stage treating the wounds on his body was more important. There was a lot of blood and she suspected this was why he had passed out. 

Without thinking Felicity began to rip up her under garments which were made of cotton and therefor more useful for bandaging. She set off to work trying to reduce the bleeding as much as possible hoping that her efforts would lessen his blood loss. She was going to have to get him home somehow to disinfect those wounds. There was no hospital that she knew of and she assumed that a blood transfusion was out of the question in this place. Glancing at the man and at her handiwork Felicity decided to look on the positive side. People in this kind of environment were generally tough and judging by the abs and muscles on him, this guy was super robust. If anyone had a good chance of survival it was him.

*** 

Oliver’s first instinct when he came to was to grab and disarm the figure on top of him. In the chaos of battle with Merlyn, he and John had separated, each taking on half of Merlyn’s minions. Oliver had managed to defeat and kill Merlyn but not without suffering from injuries inflicted by the Dark Archer. He had managed to haul himself to the shoreline in the hopes of finding John.

Still in battle mode he was about to choke his assailant when a loud muffled shout, accompanied by a lot of wiggling broke him from his haze.

“Noooo!!! Stop it! Friend not foe! God this is why my mother tells me I should just stay home, look pretty and try to marry well. Do someone a good deed and get choked to death for the effort.”

Oliver let go at once. Assassins did not wiggle. He stared at the sight that greeted him and blinked. He stared again and kept blinking, feeling completely disarmed by the nude girl with the face of an angel, big blue eyes and pouty pink lips that were talking at a million miles a minute. An assassin he was prepared for. A naked girl, straddling him while babbling he was not.

“Ooh goodie you’ve calmed down. Must be all the GRRR you have left in your body after fighting with someone. Come to think of it, it is pretty stupid of me to try and save you. What if you are the bad guy and the good guy is already dead? Although you do look like you’re a warrior who has been in some big battle with a nemesis rather than your run-of-the-mill serial killer. I mean why on earth would a serial killer end up so injured by the shoreline of a lake. Actually I’m sure Criminal Minds probably has an episode with a murderous unsub who ends up injured. Not that I think you’re murderous. I really hope you’re not. I couldn’t leave you here bleeding to death in the sun but I really hope you’re not evil or anything.” Upon finishing her rant, she flashed him a nervous but friendly smile, seemingly unaware that she was without a stitch of clothing on. She continued to straddle him as she laid a cool wet piece of fabric over his head.

“Your bleeding has improved but I’m worried about an infection. Do you think you can move? You’re too heavy for me to drag but if you can lean on me I can take you home and disinfect your wounds. You’re lucky that as soon as I landed in this world and realized how backward it was I stocked up on some strong, practically pure ethanol booze as an antiseptic. Funded it by selling some of my inventions. Didn’t think I was going to use it on a stranger I picked up in the woods but after the last few weeks nothing phases me anymore.” She gave him another smile, this one sunny and full of kindness. Trying his best to avoid staring at her very attractive chest, Oliver reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you Miss err…” he focused intently on her face, it was a very beautiful face with its perfect features and proportions, yet there was something so wild and free about her smile. It was brought him a levity that he had not felt in a long time. It was a smile that epitomized everything wonderful about this world. 

“Felicity,” she answered. “Don’t worry about the Miss. Where I come from Felicity will do just fine. Since we’re exchanging names mind sharing yours?” She leaned down, that infectious smile making an appearance once again as she whispered conspiratorially at him, “Or do you travel under an alias, never to share your name with the world?”

“Oliver,” he responded beaming at her. His face could no longer retain its neutral stoic look. The joy and amusement she brought with every sentence uttered was too much for him to bear.

“Well do you think you can walk Oliver? I’d feel much better if I disinfected your wounds and bandaged you up with fresh clean bandages rather than ripped bits of my underclothes but don’t you worry they are pretty clean. I’m no grub.” Suddenly she froze before letting out a yelp and leaping off his lap. 

“Oh my goodness I am so sorry. Here I am flashing you and straddling your lap while you’re too injured and defenseless to move.” She pulled up a piece of fabric and jammed it on his face. “Here use this to cover your eyes so you don’t have to uncomfortably avert them while I get dressed. Honestly I didn’t mean it. I was skinny dipping in the lake when I saw your arm and swam over to investigate. Then I tried to stop your bleeding. I didn’t even remember I had no clothes on.”

 

Oliver heard a lot of shuffling as Felicity scrambled to put her clothes on. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier Felicity. I should have. I hope you don’t think I was trying to take advantage of you. I was so caught up in what you had to say I didn’t know how to interrupt you.”

“Let’s forget about this unfortunate nude incident,” Felicity bent down and removed the piece of fabric from his face. She was fully dressed, looking very much like a vibrant pink rose amongst the trees. “What happens in the woods stays in the woods yes? Not that anything happened in the woods between us!” 

“Anything you want Felicity,” he murmured gazing at her. “And I think I can walk but I need to look for my friend before I do anything else. He might be injured too. I can’t leave without him. We were fighting a dangerous enemy together and split up.”

“Hmm I’d rather you not wonder around aimlessly in your condition. What are the odds your friend would come and investigate if he were to see say signs of an explosion in these woods?” Felicity mused.

“Explosion?” Oliver stared at her, his eyes wide. This girl was something else. Her qualities extended beyond beautiful, kind and intelligent to exciting, something he had never found in any other person before her. 

“You said you were battling a dangerous enemy right? Then your friend would be on high alert which naturally, provided that he’s not severely hurt, should make him gravitate towards any sign of danger, in this case an explosion.” She smiled at him as if it were the simplest thing in the world. 

“How would we create an explosion without anything in the middle of the woods?” Oliver wondered where on earth she was heading with this train of thought.

“You don’t have anything but I do. Here you lean against this tree and let me take care of this.” Carefully she led him to a tree and sat him down, giving him a reassuring pat before she started rummaging around in the sleeves of her dress. Oliver wanted to protest that he was perfectly fine and didn’t need to sit down like some damsel but the part of him that was absolutely fascinated with Felicity forbade him to say anything.

Felicity pulled out several packets from her sleeves, placing them neatly on the ground. Occasionally she’d study one and move it to a pile before studying the next packet. Every so often she’d pause and pull out even more things from her sleeves, vials of liquid, pieces of metals. An assortment of odds and ends.

She paused when she noticed Oliver tilting his head and staring at her with a quizzical look on his face.

“Anything you want to ask me Oliver?” she asked, her voice laced with amusement.

“You err fit a lot of stuff in those sleeves. A lot.” It was fascinating the number of vials and bottles she kept pulling out of her sleeves. The fact that she went around carrying bottles and vials of various substances was something he needed to get his head around. She was a world apart from any other girl he had met before. He knew there was only one thing that normally mattered to girls her age. Marriage prospects. Felicity was something else. Something beyond him perhaps.

“Oh yeah, I really don’t like the weird garb we have to wear and all the layers but I will concede that the crazy big sleeves are an excellent idea. I keep all sorts of things in mine. Wouldn’t need to wear a handbag even if they were in fashion. I sew pockets all over mine for better storage. Only time those sewing skills my mother forces on me ever come into use.” She pulled open her sleeves and let Oliver take a look at the rows of neat little pockets she had sewn inside.

Oliver could no longer contain the laughter that had been bubbling in his chest for some time. “Felicity you are remarkable,” he grinned at her. 

“Well thank you for remarking on it,” she answered back cheerfully. “Now I’m just going to move over here and set this off. It’ll hiss and spit and eventually explode but we’ll be outside of the explosion radius so don’t be alarmed. You with your fighter ninja instincts might leap right into defensive mode.”

She took the pile of powders she had carefully selected and mixed them together, before rolling them into a tight cigar with a piece of paper she happened to have handy. She placed the make shift explosive cigar a good distance away from them. Out of one of her many sleeve pockets, Felicity retrieved a piece of glass that looked it had been filed down and used it to focus multiple rays of sunlight on the cigar.

“You travel around with pieces of glass?” Oliver asked incredulously. 

“Hey I keep your secrets,” Felicity quipped cheekily back at him.

The rays of sun did their job and soon the paper casing began to catch fire. This was followed by a crackle and hiss before an explosive BOOM shot multiple sparks into the air. Oliver leapt to his feet at once and covering Felicity’s body with his own. 

“Relax, it’ll be fine,” she said soothingly, not pushing away but wiggling a bit to get a good view of her handiwork. “Now I say we wait for a little while. If your friend doesn’t come to find us, I’ll set off to find him while you wait here. It’s closer to my home here and you really shouldn’t be walking long distances in your state.

Oliver was about to protest when Felicity shot him an especially feisty look that caught him off guard. “I wrapped you up remember I know how much blood you lost and how deep those wounds are. Don’t even think about arguing with me.” 

“It’s not safe for you to wander around these woods,” he protested meekly.

“And what have I been doing before you appeared in my life this very afternoon?” Felicity demanded. “I’ll have you know I sneak through these woods all the time to trade for my supplies. My mother doesn’t notice the odd dress that I sell. Or lifestyle gadgets. People are surprisingly willing to pay a lot for lifestyle gadgets.” Noting the confused look on his face Felicity waved him off casually. “Don’t worry it’s nothing that affects you. Point is I’ll be perfectly fine. Not a damsel you need to save.” 

It was in that moment that Oliver realized his arms were still wrapped around both her shoulders protectively. He let go and jumped back at once not wanting her to think he was taking advantage of her. “I’m sorry about that. I was errr…. protecting you.” 

Felicity shot him and amused look and smiled at him. “You’ve seen me naked on your lap. Arms wrapped around my shoulder to protect me from an explosion hardly registers on the scandalous scale. Although my mother would probably drop dead if she knew. She’d think it’s another thing to destroy my chance of making a good match as she’s always going on about.” 

“And how do you feel about that? Are you seeking a good match?” Oliver asked, his heart suddenly thumping rapidly for no good reason. The thought of a free spirit like her settling down with someone wealthy and ordinary caused him to feel anxious. There was something about Felicity he couldn’t even begin to understand although he badly wanted to. It was as if she wasn’t meant for this world. She wasn’t here to adhere to all its rules and customs and niceties. Felicity deserved so much more than that.

“Oh god no,” Felicity responded with a chuckle before whispering into his ear, her voice full of mirth, “I’m doing my best to take care of the marriage problem actually. That’s why I’ve been going down to the market to trade for supplies. Nothing shady but I’m planning on setting up a life for myself on my own terms if I’m stuck here forever.”

He was about to ask her what she meant by that peculiar statement when he detected movement. Immediately taking a defensive stance he stepped in front of Felicity when John emerged, looking a little worse for wear but without any major injuries.

“John,” Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. They had considered bringing the cavalry for the face off with Merlyn but Oliver who felt responsible for his people knew that there would be casualties. In the end he had taken a risk and decided to go at it himself, knowing that he stood a fair chance of single handedly mowing down Merlyn and his minions. John, always loyal to a fault refused to let him go alone and Oliver had felt an uncomfortable pang of guilt prior to being reunited with this friend. If anything had happened to John it would be his fault for insisting on going into battle without his army. 

“Oh goodie you must be the missing best friend,” Felicity said briskly before circling John, examining him up and down like a hawk. John gave her a suspicious glance but stood still while she flitted around him. He did however raise a questioning eyebrow at Oliver. 

“I see you’ve made a new friend since we parted this morning,” he said drily.

Felicity who was finally satisfied that John didn’t seem to harbor any major injuries stepped back beside Oliver. “We’d better head off so I can disinfect Oliver’s wounds. His bleeding seems to have stopped but I don’t want to risk an infection.” 

“Felicity Kuttler.”

Felicity held out her hand to introduce herself to John who didn’t take it and gave her a strange stare before responding.

“John Diggle,” he said with a hint of amusement and curiosity in his expression. Felicity noticed Oliver was also watching her curiously.

“Oh yes you don’t do hand shaking here and being a lady I should wait for someone to introduce me. Well boys it’s just me and you guys in these woods so I’m going to have to introduce myself.” She glanced over at Oliver, “Hmm I guess Oliver could have done it but he didn’t know my surname. I still get confused about how this place works sometimes.”

Both men continued to stare at her curiously not knowing what to make of her ramble.

“Staring at me like that is not going to help you figure me out. Let’s patch up Oliver properly,” Felicity shrugged and turned to lead the way when Oliver latched onto her arm. He only did it ever so gently but as soon as she turned around to focus her attention on him he dropped her arm like it was burning him.

“I’m sorry Felicity. I shouldn’t have done that. I wanted to tell you I need to look for my bow and quiver first. I threw them onto the ground before I passed out.” He looked apologetic and down right ashamed that he had grabbed her. 

“Yeah you need to relax a bit. Is this something about my virtue? Cuz you really don’t need to worry about that. I am a modern woman.” Seeing that both John and Oliver were looking bewildered now, Felicity continued impatiently. “Your bow is over there, I think it’s broken and your quiver is near it. I’ll pack them both into my knapsack. God the word knapsack is weird.” 

“Not your sleeve pockets?” Oliver teased her, a smile suddenly lighting up his face. Felicity was taken back for a moment. She had been so focused on bandaging and saving him she hadn’t given any thought to how handsome he was. Blue eyes, abs for days, chiseled good looks, intense penetrating stare but with this surprisingly sweet and bashful boyish air whenever he spoke to her. His friend John was also ridiculously handsome. They looked like hunky firefighters dressed as superheroes.

Felicity fought back a grin. “I’ll have you know that if my sleeve pockets were empty I’d be carrying them in there without any trouble at all.”

Seeing John’s confused but intrigued expression Felicity flashed him the inside of her sleeves. The other man at once turned to Oliver, shooting him a look demanding an explanation.

Oliver looking completely non perturbed marched off to pick up his bow and quiver, Felicity running after him to protest, “Hey you don’t want to crack open your wound again. I haven’t even stitched it up. Let me carry it for you.” She reach out to grab the bow and quiver off him only to have Oliver dodge her swiftly.

“Felicity I thank you for saving me but I’m not having a lady carry my weapons while I walk around idly.” His voice was firm, commanding even, something she hadn’t experienced in the last few hours she’d spent with him.

“Where I come from, we help the sick or injured. And you my good man are injured. I’m not letting someone who almost bled to death carry heavy equipment around.” 

She tried to dive for the weapons only to have him hold them high above her head. Felicity was about to protest again when a pair of mighty arms came out of nowhere and plucked the equipment out of Oliver’s hands. 

“Enough you two. I will carry this,” John said sternly, rolling his eyes at them as if they were two silly children he had to put up with. “Felicity Kuttler care to lead the way?”

Felicity smiled a grateful smile at John, picked up her knapsack and led both men in the direction of the place she now called home.

***

“It’s a good thing my parents are not home,” Felicity said as she unlocked the house and led them into a small, sparsely decorated room. “Sorry I have to put you here, this is an unused room in the house that hardly anyone enters. My mother will have a fit if you bleed in her sitting room and she finds blood. This is cleaner than my work shed, which has too many wood shavings and particles lying around for it to be safe for your wounds. You make yourselves comfortable and I’ll go and prepare a bath for Oliver before I disinfect his wounds.”

She turned to Oliver and looked at him apologetically, “There’s no nice way to say this but I think we should get the dirt and grime off the rest of your body before I stitch you up.”

John hid an amused grin at her words. She really was astonishingly capable and reminded him of Lyla, although this girl looked like she was all sugar and sunshine unlike Lyla who had a more combative and warrior air about her. He could tell that Oliver was enthralled with Felicity, which was going to lead to some interesting developments considering who Oliver really was, his responsibilities and position. 

“Do you not have any help around the house?” Oliver asked, looking concerned that Felicity was going to have to physically exert herself to take care of him.

“Yes we do but since my parents went to the seaside, I decided to send Kacey and Lotty back to visit their families for a few days. There are a lot of things I want to do and it was in their best interests and mine if they aren’t around to witness my experiments. One thing I haven’t gotten used to is the lack of freedom in this place. Everybody talks.” 

“Are you not worried about your reputation? Especially if you harbor two men in your home? That could really destroy your matrimonial chances.” Seeing the lovely way she smiled at him, a smile that reminded him of all the warmth and joy in the world, Oliver knew at once what an irrelevant statement that was. Felicity was intelligent, brave, kindhearted and all things lovely. Anyone laying eyes on her would consider themselves privileged to be able to call her their wife. A girl like her didn’t need to worry about reputation.

“I think making sure you don’t get an infection is more important than my reputation,” Felicity chuckled heartily. “I would never admit this to my mother and if you tell her I said this I’ll deny it, but my reputation could use some destruction.”

She leaned her head towards his and whispered into his ear, her eyes gleaming with mischief, “I’ve been trying my best to destroy my matrimonial chances because I’d much rather be a spinster than marry someone just because they were considered a good catch and be trapped in a loveless marriage. Even if I’m stuck in this world forever I’m going to make the best of it. My life, my choices. Just have to do it slowly so my mother doesn’t have a fit.”

Oliver wanted to ask what she meant by repeatedly mentioning that she was stuck in this world, however John gave him a look that suggested he shouldn’t delve into this right now. There was so much Oliver wanted to know about Felicity. He had spent most of his life protecting his people, constantly assessing threats, targets and formulating strategies to combat against enemies in order to protect Starling. Felicity was like a lovely intriguing puzzle that somehow floated into his life. Oliver knew without a doubt, as he watched the playful expression on Felicity’s face, this was his moment, his one chance to have something good for himself whether he deserved it or not. 

“Don’t worry about me. I consider it my duty to make sure I send you gentleman off alive and reasonably healed. Be back soon when you bath’s ready.” Felicity gave Oliver a playful tap on the shoulder and grinned happily at John before she sailed out of the room. 

***

“I smell something burning, do you?” Oliver turned to ask John. Immediately they both raced to find Felicity. After bossing them to both take baths and ensuring that Oliver’s wounds were well cleaned, stitched, and wrapped up, Felicity had left them to their own devices, citing that she was going to try and reheat some food the servants left for their dinner. It was some time later that Oliver and John detected the burning smell.

They ran towards the wisps of smoke to find a sad looking and somewhat sooty Felicity who greeted them morosely. “I decided to try and roast the chickens I found already prepped and stored in the icehouse but that didn’t work out so well. Gives a whole new meaning to charcoal chicken doesn’t it? There’s plenty of fresh food but all the cooked meals they left me are not going to be enough for you both.” 

Oliver who prided himself in controlling and repressing his emotions fought every instinct in his body to reach out and give her a cuddle as he watched her looking all dejected, her hair frizzing wildly in a messy array of curls and her face smudge with soot. He could not however fight the heart eyed smiled on his face. “I can cook Felicity. Why don’t you go and show John around while I make us dinner. Just tell me where the pantry is first so I can look for some ingredients.” 

“You can cook?” She had a shocked expression on her face but she looked pleased. “You just didn’t strike me as the type who could cook. With those abs and muscles why would you know how to cook? I suppose that just makes you all the more attractive really.”

Felicity slammed her hand to cover her mouth, realizing that once again she’d said too much. “Not that I think you’re attractive. Well I do but in a neutral observation kind of way. Cuz I saw you without a shirt and what’s there is there so it’s not like I’m blind.”   

Oliver let out a laugh as Felicity went noticeably beet red, even under all that soot. “I can cook Felicity and I appreciate your neutral observation of me. I think you’re stunning and that is NOT a neutral observation.”

He continued grinning at her as she looked adorably flustered until John took pity on her and ushered her out of the kitchen. 

***

Felicity grouped the arrows she had been working in two neat little piles, a ribbon securing each pile. She placed them beside Oliver’s bow, which she had mended in record speed (not that Felicity had ever fixed a bow in her life). In this world without computers and code, Felicity embraced the engineer within her, something she had been exploring back home before her accident. Every day Felicity found that the challenges of limited tools and resources pushed her further, forcing her to think and create in entirely different ways. The lack of resources frustrated her but she had slowly come to accept this and develop more patience.

She was about to gather the bow and arrows to find Oliver when she heard a knock on the door of her shed. 

“Hey,” she smiled brightly at him. “I was just going to come find you. I’ve fixed your bow. I know you said not to worry about it but I didn’t know how long your journey home would be and I wanted make sure you were armed with a weapon, just in case you ran into another evil dude, something that seems to happen to you all the time from what John tells me. I figured that being an archer you must be very particular about your arrows but couldn’t resist making you a few trick ones to try.” 

She glided up to him and excitedly pulled out two arrows, painted two different shades of green. “I decided to keep within the colour theme since green is your thing,” she smiled at him. She was leaning so close he could smell her scent, a mixture of flowers and unsurprisingly…sawdust given the amount of time she spent cooped up working in this shed. A smile crossed Oliver’s face as he thought of the last few days. How utterly freeing it had been to work beside her sawing and sanding blocks of wood for her when she needed it. Felicity had refused to tell him what she was working on and when asked only smiled and said it was for someone who needed help and also a means to eventually earn a living for herself. 

“The dark green arrow contains explosives so when you shoot it, it will explode. A more concentrated explosion than the one I created to find John. The light green one forms a large net to trap anyone you shoot it at, for when you don’t want to make a kill shot.” She suddenly looked a little shy, before adding, “I’m sure you can make these yourself being a master archer but I was feeling inspired. It was a nice break from all the wood panels I’ve been buried in. Plus I thought you could use some ammunition on your way home.”

“I don’t have a net throwing arrow. The ones I make can only pin down one person,” Oliver informed Felicity at once, eager to show her how appreciative he was of her efforts. He wondered if this was just Felicity being Felicity. If she was this kind to everyone or there was something between them.

“Thank you for saving my life Felicity Kuttler.” He reached over and grabbed her hand, not sure what he was intending to do but knowing that he was desperate for some sort of physical contact with her before he left.

“You know what, call me Felicity Smoak. Don’t ask me to explain why but you can call me Felicity Smoak.”

“Let me guess, it’s a complicated story?” Oliver teased. This was something she had repeated to him and John for the last three days whenever they questioned her about her outlandish statements.

Felicity burst out laughing, ““You’re learning fast.”

She covered his hand with her other free hand. Her hands were soft and warm. They were small but they surrounded his large callused one, making him feel a sense of security he had never felt before in his life.

Oliver matched her smile for smile. “Well Felicity Smoak, thank you for saving my life. I shall never forget the last three days.” 

“Well thank you for helping me with my project and cooking all our meals in the last three days. I would have starved without you. Or eaten very bad food and burnt down the house.”

“Felicity I have somewhere else to be but I would have loved to stay here with you.” The mood suddenly turned somber. He took a step towards her and clasped both of her hands; threading their fingers together as he looked into her eyes. Eyes that gazed back at him softly and dreamily.

Suddenly Felicity blinked and took a step back, breaking the spell between them. “I love your company but I don’t think my parents would be too pleased to find I stashed two men here while they were gone. Goodness what a scene my mother would make.”

She untangled their fingers and gave his bicep a gentle affectionate squeeze. “Come on I’ll walk you out.” 

***

“Goodbye, stay safe and try not to sustain anymore injuries okay? Maybe find some more likeminded heroes to help you fight the bad guys.” Felicity admonished as she bid Oliver and John goodbye. Who would have thought that after being stuck in this world, which was a crazy adventure in itself, she would also befriend two of the most intriguing men she’d ever encounter. Felicity stood on her tippy toes to give John a big hug, the gentle giant hugging her back enthusiastically.

Felicity turned and moved towards Oliver, giving him an equally fierce hug. Oliver pulled her into his chest and lingered in the hug for as long as he could, taking in the scent of her hair, the soft warmth of her body. He really didn’t want to let her go.

“Hey you know where I live remember? Come by and visit in non-warrior clothes. My mother won’t freak out then. She’ll most likely think you are very dashing,” Felicity looked up at him with a big smile on her face, doing her best to cheer him up. 

“I will take you up on that offer Felicity Smoak,” he smiled at her looking considerably less despondent.

“I can’t wait. Here, let me walk you part of the way.” She untangled herself from him and linked arms with him happily.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!
> 
> Thank you to those of you who are reading this story even if it must seem super weird to you! 
> 
> As you may have noticed all the tags changed! You'll understand why after you read this chapter!

“Ten years we’ve known each other and I’ve never seen you look like that.” John watched Oliver’s face carefully. It was true Oliver had never been like this before, so completely and utterly wrapped up in someone but John wasn’t surprised to see his friend like this. He always suspected that there was a romantic side to Oliver, the ability to fall head over heels. It was the same passion that drove him to relentlessly protect Starling, often putting his own life on the line just to spare the life of his soldiers. John could see that same dedication and devotion was now channeled towards Felicity, a woman Oliver had just met for a few days.

“Look like what?” Oliver pretended he had no idea what his friend was talking about, although they both knew the truth.

“She could be the start of a wonderful new chapter for you,” John continued. He had never commented on or even taken an interest in Oliver’s affairs of the heart but this time it was different. Felicity was different. Oliver finally found someone who could be his equal.

“She could,” Oliver admitted. “It just seems too good to be truth. Because of the life that I lead, my responsibilities…it doesn’t seem plausible that someone like her could be mine.”

“You sell yourself short and forget that you’re the Emperor,” John reminded him. “You get down in the grit and darkness to save the city, you fail to remember that you are the ultimate ruler of Starling.” 

“Somehow I don’t think that counts for very much with Felicity,” Oliver murmured, almost sadly. “You’ve heard the statements she makes. Power and money mean nothing to her. What she wants is independence and she’s got plans to achieve that on her own.”

“She’s also someone who needs a greater purpose. Right now she’s trapped in a life like most girls her age where her looks are the only thing that matter so she’s fixated on independence. Make her a better offer.”

John hoped his words of encouragement to his friend weren’t in vain and that Felicity would be receptive to Oliver’s affections. There was certainly something there, John could see it with his own eyes and feel it in the air. However she was an extraordinary young woman and despite her undeniable chemistry with Oliver, they did not fully know what her story was. He hoped he wasn’t setting Oliver up for some kind of inevitable heartbreak. 

“I still can’t believe that I met her John. It seems almost surreal that someone like her would appear and literally save me.” 

“You have sacrificed so much and saved so many people. Maybe this is the universe’s way of thanking you.” 

Oliver did not respond but continued to look wistful, stroking the bow that had been carefully mended by Felicity.

***

Felicity sanded down the wooden wheel chair she had built for old Mrs. Bowen the wife of one of the merchants her father did book keeping for. Mrs. Bowen had dropped by one day under the pretence of delivering some documents on behalf of her husband (a task which everyone knew that servants performed, not the wealthy lady of the household) to scrutinize Felicity. Much to Donna’s dismay rumours had been going around town that the only child of Noah Kuttler was not quite right in the head after her big fall.

Such a shame people had whispered to one another. Felicity Kuttler was as pretty as a picture however she was decidedly odd and seemed to be getting more eccentric with time. She was always in town, making trades with unsavoury folks and perhaps the most sensational story about her yet was that she was seen walking arm in arm with two men while her parents were away.u

Mrs. Bowen who fancied Felicity for her son (the girl was incredibly pretty and her atypical attitude was somewhat amusing) decided to drop by to examine the mental state of Felicity for herself. The visited resulted in Felicity telling Mrs. Bowen that under no certain terms was she ever interested in marrying Carter Bowen. However upon hearing about Mrs. Bowen’s ill health and how hard it was for her to even take a stroll in her own garden, Felicity had proposed to build her a wheelchair. Felicity was aware that she lacked the materials to actually build a proper wheelchair but she couldn’t help thinking that if she applied the same mechanics of what she knew and adapted it to the materials available, she could make Mrs. Bowen something to get around in.

Mrs. Bowen, still charmed by Felicity, had offered to pay her handsomely if she could deliver what she promised. The woman had no idea whether this strange girl even really knew what she was doing or whether she was just as mad as people declared her to be but she decided there was no harm in taking Felicity up on her wild ideas. Despite being extremely wealthy Mrs. Bowen was bored and lonely. Felicity Kuttler with her madcap ways provided the excitement and sense of adventure Mrs. Bowen lacked in her life.

Eyeing the chair with satisfaction, Felicity covered it with a large cotton sheet. Tomorrow she would take it to Mrs. Bowen and let her try it out. Then she would ask Mrs. Bowen for her favourite colour and paint it for her.    

A loud noise that sounded like a series of trumpets made Felicity jump. The noise continued, followed by what sounded like drums and a lot of fanfare. For a brief moment Felicity wondered if she had lost her mind and was hearing things. After waking up in this foreign world, being trapped in it and living in it for months Felicity felt as if nothing could surprise her anymore. Maybe this was all a mirage and the noises were an indication that the mirage was now dissolving. 

“Miss Felicity, Miss Felicity,” Lotty’s voice called as Felicity heard footsteps outside her shed, followed by frantic knocking. She sighed to herself. So this wasn’t a dream to be woken up from. Not with Lotty pounding on the door demanding she come out at once. 

“Miss Felicity you must go out front at once,” Lotty pleaded urgently. It was then that Felicity noticed the noise had died down.

“Coming,” Felicity called, wondering what crisis was awaiting her. She may have been responsible for a few raised eyebrows and attracted strange looks here and there but apart from causing her mother daily grief, Felicity to her knowledge had not brought any scandal or drama to the family. She frowned a little suddenly feeling worried. Were they in trouble with someone? As far as she had been told, they all existed fairly peacefully in Starling. The mysterious Emperor whom the people also called the Green Arrow ensured this tranquil and safe existence.

Shrugging her shoulders to herself, Felicity went to unlock the shed door. Whatever it was it couldn’t be that bad. No matter how foreign this place was to her, Felicity firmly believed that they didn’t have a big fanfare of trumpets and drums before arresting or attacking anyone.

“Miss Felicity he’s here to see you. He wants to marry you,” Lotty blurted out, barely able to contain her excitement. “Your mother just fainted, Kacey and your father are trying to wake her. I was told to bring you to see him right away.”

“Mom fainted? Is she ok?” Felicity asked in disbelief unable to coherently form her next set of questions because she thought she just heard someone wanted to marry her. 

“She is fine Miss Felicity. She is a bit shocked. None of us can believe that the Emperor would suddenly turn up and ask for your hand in marriage.” Lotty reached over and smoothed out a frazzled curl on Felicity’s head before continuing, “We should change you Miss Felicity, look at you. Wood shavings and splinters everywhere. And the bottom of your robes are covered in dust.”

“Ok first of all we are not changing me and secondly did I hear wrong or did you just say the EMPEROR wants to marry me.” Felicity stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Lotty like she had gone insane or was deliberating trying to play a very unfunny strange joke on Felicity.   

“You heard correctly Miss Felicity. The Emperor wants to marry you. And if I may say Miss Felicity, he is so handsome. So very handsome, very tall and strong looking. And such a warrior. You are very fortunate Miss Felicity. He must have heard about how beautiful you are. He blushed bright red when he asked about you. Blue eyes, big muscles and all shy when he asked about you. So handsome.” Lotty looked positively starry eyed as she gushed about this Emperor. 

Felicity took a deep breath. What was the obsession with this place and her looks? Did someone spread some story about her and now she had the Emperor at her door. By all counts the Emperor, or Green Arrow as he was also known was quite the hero and beloved by the people. What on earth possessed him to show up at her door and propose marriage? Clearly the man had marbles loose. Hit in the head too many times in battle maybe. Felicity didn’t know why but she suddenly felt disappointed. She had enjoyed the tales of this Emperor and deep down had looked up to him as a mythical heroic figure. It was one of the things offered by this world that she enjoyed. There was a hero out there, doing good, leading the people. That illusion was now shattered because no sane heroic person could be trying to propose marriage to someone they didn’t know.

“Miss Felicity, you really should change into something pretty. You are about to become Empress. There are rumours that the Emperor has had many conquests but has never offered marriage to anyone. And he’s now he’s chosen you Miss Felicity.” Lotty hovered around Felicity, trying to rearrange her hair as best as she could. She really hoped Miss Felicity wasn’t going to act up today. Miss Felicity was going to kill her mother if she didn’t cooperate. Really she was incredibly lucky. After the rumours about Miss Felicity and the two men plus her exceedingly peculiar behaviour in general Lotty couldn’t think why the Emperor would propose marriage to her. Perhaps he had seen a picture of Miss Felicity and couldn’t resist her beauty. Miss Felicity was so very pretty no matter what you thought of her behaviour. Maybe the Emperor wanted someone with a few quirks. 

“We are not changing my clothes,” Felicity announced firmly, speeding up a little. “I am going to put an end to this nonsense once and for all.” 

“Miss Felicity what do you mean by that? Please don’t do anything rash.” Lotty jogged along to keep up with Felicity. What in God’s name did she mean by that. What dreadful thing did she plan to say and do in front of the Emperor now?

“Oh don’t you worry Lotty. I’m just going to set the Emperor straight. Politely. If he’s as noble and heroic as you all say, he’s not going force some girl to marry him.” Felicity marched on forward, quite determined to give the Emperor a polite peace of her mind by now. 

“But Miss Felicity you will never get a better offer than this. He is the Emperor. He lives in a giant castle in Starling.”

Felicity ignored Lotty and sped up even faster, finally bursting through the front door to the courtyard where all the fanfare was. She spotted a figure pacing about impatiently, dressed in dark green robes, decorated with all sorts of fancy stripes. So this was the Emperor. In her front yard. With his trumpet players and drummers and horses and servants carrying huge parcels. The whole scene was designed to give her a migraine. She was just minding her own business, trying to help an old lady and maybe make money on the side. Money that she had planned to use to help others and now all this was happening. Felicity couldn’t help but wonder what the universe was punishing her for. 

Narrowing her eyes, she straightened her shoulders and marched up to the pacing figure. “Your majesty, I think there has been a mistake. You see Lotty here thinks you want to propose legal marriage to me. Actually I don’t know what legal marriage entails in this place since I don’t come from here, long story nothing you need to know about since I am right at this moment firmly and politely refusing your request for marriage.”

Felicity stopped abruptly and almost choked on her own breath. For standing in front of her with an amused grin on his face was Oliver. Oliver was the Emperor? Oliver was the Green Arrow?

“Green leather suit, green quiver, green arrows. The Green Arrow,” Felicity muttered to herself still staring at him in disbelief. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“Well to be fair you were focused on trying to save me,” he offered helpfully as he stood well in her personal space, beaming at her with a smitten look on his face. 

“You didn’t even realize you were without clothing remember?” This time he had the gall to bend a little, whispering the line into her ear. A pleasant involuntary shiver ran down Felicity’s spine. She looked up at him, feeling a little dazed. Oh yes he was handsome. So very very handsome. 

“Felicity, baby girl,” Donna’s voice pierced though, causing Felicity to snap out of her trance.

Her mother had recovered from her bout of fainting and was standing beside her father with Kacey and Lotty next to her. They were all watching Felicity carefully looking extremely concerned.

“Oliver,” Felicity said quietly with a tight smile on her face. Now that she had recovered from her shock realisation that he was the Emperor and had stopped marvelling at how handsome he was, Felicity was feeling slightly annoyed at the spectacle he brought to her home. “I told you to visit me in civilian clothes. Did I say anything about proposing marriage?” 

“That’s not the way it works here Felicity. You like a girl you propose marriage to her,” Oliver whispered back.

“Are you serious?” Felicity whispered back loudly, glaring at him a little. When she first met him she thought he was a bit of a mystery. Despite the obvious connection between them, it was his mysterious air that made Felicity believe she wouldn’t see him again. But here he was. Apparently proposing marriage. Felicity didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Dead serious,” Oliver answered with a whisper before speaking clearly in his in normal voice. “Felicity Megan Smoak. Will you marry me?” He used her full name. Her real name that she had told him to use, not Kuttler. Suddenly Oliver took both of her hands and knelt down on both knees in front of her. This caused absolute chaos as everyone, his entire procession of people and her parents, Lotty and Kacey to also kneel down. When the Emperor kneeled everyone else also had to kneel it seemed.

Felicity was too cross to kneel. She groaned and shook her head at Oliver. “No,” she answered simply.

“No?” Oliver asked, looking taken back.

“Yes,” Felicity affirmed.

“Yes?” Oliver queried, frowning slightly in confusion. 

“No…no…Yes as in I meant no no…..NO” Felicity hurriedly corrected him in case he got the wrong idea.

“I’m not understanding what’s going on here,” Oliver blinked at her looking slightly distressed. 

“Oliver!” Felicity whispered impatiently fully aware that he was still kneeling in front of her and people were staring at them, her mother looking like she was going to have a stroke. “You have known me for a few days. What on earth possessed you to think it was a good idea to come here with trumpets and drums to propose. TRUMPETS and DRUMS Oliver.” 

He let go of her right hand and rubbed his head confusedly. “You’re special Felicity. A girl like you doesn’t appear twice in a lifetime. John said it was time I lived for myself and that meant giving myself a chance to be with you.”

“Are you sure John meant to propose marriage? Like this?” Felicity gestured to the fanfare before her. Noticing his shoulders slumping slightly and the dejected look on his face, Felicity softened her stance. She took his other hand and lightly urged him to his feet. As Oliver stood up, so did everyone else. 

“You could have just showed up in civilian clothes and asked me out on a date,” Felicity smiled gently at him. “You move very fast. I know you do things differently here but this is fast even for this place.”

Oliver grinned at her sheepishly, blushing a little. Felicity smiled at him, suddenly finding herself wondering why his eyes were so blue. Really really blue.

“I was going to visit you first, tell you that I was the Emperor but Raymond Palmer my Diplomatic advisor talked me into this proposal. He said our meeting was so romantic, why not follow it up with a big romantic gesture since I knew you were the one already. John is away and I was eager to see you so didn’t run this by him. Plus when I get invested on a course of action I have to see it through.” 

“Raymond Palmer?” Felicity asked suspiciously. “As in tall, dark haired, handsome Ray Palmer? Very cheerful guy? Is he married to a girl called Zari by any chance?”

“Yes to everything else but he’s married to Anna. Raymond Palmer is my Diplomatic Advisor, how do you know him?” Oliver looked intrigued.

“I knew someone exactly like him where I come from,” Felicity answered. “And the guy I knew would have likely given you the exact same advice.” 

“I’m good with fighting and battle strategy. Not so good at this.” Oliver smiled sheepishly at her, looking adorably lost. Felicity was half tempted to say yes just to see a big happy smile on his face again.

“Oliver, I do like you. I really do. I like you a lot. But it’s complicated. I am not from here. I…there are things I need to explain to you but not here with all these people.” 

“Felicity and I will go for a walk. We do not wish to be followed under any circumstances. Stay put everyone.” Oliver barked out the command, looking regal and very much like the Emperor that he was.

A chorus of acquiescing murmurs took place in the crowd and Oliver turned to take Felicity’s hand, the look of adoration once again returning to his face, “Will you go for a walk with me Felicity?” 

*** 

“So that’s what you mean when you keep saying you’re not from this world,” Oliver murmured after Felicity had finished telling him her story. It all became so clear. Her unconventional attitude, her scorn towards marriage and her carefree demeanour. She was from another time, another place altogether. She wasn’t meant for this world. The thought sent an unpleasant shudder through Oliver as he reached out and grabbed her hands, gripping onto them gently as if he were afraid that at any moment she would be taken back to her world. 

“Do I exist in your world? You said your parents, Ray, Anna, Zari they all exist in your world.” Oliver looked at her hopefully although rationally he knew Felicity would have said something by now if she knew him from her world.

Felicity shook her head and gave his hand a pat. “No, I’ve never heard of you. You may very well exist but we’ve never crossed paths.”

“But we could one day? I might exist in your world? You said Ray was married to Zari where you come from and that Anna was his lost love. Things turned out differently here. Does this mean that if you didn’t have your accident and didn’t end up here, you might have met the other version of me one day?”

He wasn’t sure why he was so obsessed with the idea of them in another world. Maybe it was because he felt extremely uneasy ever since finding out that she wasn’t from here. So the universe had literally handed him the girl of his dreams but had taken her from somewhere else.

“Nothing is impossible but I think that’s all moot now since I am here and I seem to be a very permanent fixture in this place. At first I thought I’d dream of home or something but nothing has happened. This is my reality now.” Felicity paused and took a step closer to him, tilting her head to look into his eyes. 

“You understand why I can’t marry you right? I’ve got a decent enough back-story but that’s not really who I am. None of this is me and I’m just bumbling around trying not to make waves and set up a life for myself. The last thing I need is to be under the scrutiny of being your Empress.” She smiled at the word Empress and gave him a light shoulder bump. “Now there’s a sentence I never imagined I’d say.” 

“Felicity,” Oliver said her name with a level of intensity that made her heart beat a little faster. He held her by her shoulders and pulled her towards him gently. “Can you look at me and say there is nothing between us?”

He was gazing at her with that heavy, intense but slightly hopeful look that was completely throwing her off kilter. Rationally Felicity knew this was crazy. The guy she saved and hung out with for a few days had now returned to express his wishes to marry her. And he was the Emperor. And a hero. And here he was gazing at her with a look that was begging her to love him back….or something! Felicity wasn’t sure how to react to this. This wasn’t in the dating and relationships manual. Not that she was one for self help books but even if she were Felicity was certain that “How to manage your feelings for hot intense heroes who act like they are madly in love with you” wouldn’t be a chapter featured.

“Well you are very dashing,” Felicity responded with a self-conscious smile. “Or hot as they would say where I come from. But that is NOT a reason to marry someone.” The disappointment in his face was too much for Felicity to handle. She reached up, patted his cheek and attempted to console him. “Hey don’t look like that. I wouldn’t say no to a date. We can go out, get to know each other, have fun.”

“But we can still do all that if you marry me.” His face fell a little as he added, “Unless you think there is someone else out there for you.” 

Felicity let out quiet sigh. Two years she didn’t date anyone and now she was trying to tell an eager Emperor to cool his jets. “There is no one else. I wasn’t even on the market for marriage or romance or anything before you showed up. It’s not really about how I feel about you Oliver. It’s about me establishing some form of independence for myself. I’m stuck in this place where my parents aren’t really my parents, living a life that’s not really mine. I’m just working hard to turn it into a real proper life for myself.”

To her surprise he dialed down the heart eyes, his face suddenly taking on a serious look, his forehead creasing like he was contemplating something important before he spoke, “I understand that. Since you took us to your home I’ve understood your need for independence. And I can offer you that. I can offer you the freedom that you try so hard to obtain from your parents. Marry me, be my Empress. All I’m asking is for your companionship and for your promise to always be by my side. Think of all the resources you’ll have access to, all the servants you can order to execute your ideas. You could do anything you want. Put any idea into motion. No sneaking around selling clothes and gadgets for your supplies. No sawing and sanding pieces of wood in the shed, avoiding your mother, avoiding your servants. You would have my full support in everything that you do.”

“That’s quite an offer,” Felicity looked thoughtful. “And what would you get in return? You don’t look like you’re lacking in options for a wife.”

“You,” he answered simply, looking at her like she was the sun after a very long dark night.

“Me?” Felicity echoed, not knowing what else to say. She had never been the type of girl to dream of prince charming. Sure she’d had a few relationships, one that ended badly, a few which simply ended for various reasons. She believed in love but more often than not she filed the notion of finding love away as something she was open to but not actively seeking. Her company had been the centre of her focus when she first started out and then when things took off Felicity was fixated on using it’s profitability to make the world a better place.

“You,” Oliver repeated again with a smile. “I’d have you and I know my life would be better with you in it.”

Felicity understood and even appreciated the sentiment. The man was smitten with her. Love at first sight, Cupid’s Arrow. Whatever it was he had a bad case of it. Oliver was a warrior and a hero. He actively made a difference in Starling, the way she wanted to make a difference back in Ivy Town. In fact if she were to quash the pragmatic side of her, she knew she could blissfully dive headfirst into whatever it was that was simmering between them. Alas she knew she had to keep her head.

“That’s a lot of hope to place in one person,” she said gently. “What if I’m not who you think I am? Or who you hope I am? You don’t really know me.” 

“I know you saved me. I know that you’re kind, compassionate, caring. I know that you’re intelligent and industrious. What more could I ask for?” He touched her cheek, rubbing her soft skin gently with a callused finger. “Felicity you make me smile and for the first time in my life I’m happy. Accept my marriage proposal. Besides the wedding ceremony, which is tradition, you can dictate any and all of the terms in our marriage. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Just agree to marry me.”

Felicity took a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself. He really knew how to metaphorically sucker punch a girl with his declarations of devotion. “You have heard the rumours that I am not quite right in the head? Are you sure you want your people to think you married a crazy girl?” she finally blurted out. Anything to reduce the magnitude of the moment, which was overwhelming her. 

“I’ve seen inside your sleeves Felicity. I think I know what I’m in for,” he teased her, looking visibly relaxed. He had been so caught up in explaining himself to her he probably came on too strong but Felicity in her typical Felicityness had managed to diffuse the situation forcing laughter out of him.

“Okay,” Felicity answered simply, tilting her face towards him so that their noses were almost touching with a huge grin on her face.

“Okay? Just like that?” Oliver asked in disbelief not quite believing his luck.

“You dress up in green leather and battle bad guys to save the city. I sneak around, create things and do weird experiments. The pot fits the lid so why not.”

Before Felicity could protest Oliver picked her up and swung her round and round in his arms. “Felicity Megan Smoak we are going to make each other very very happy.”

***

“You said yes,” John Diggle smiled at Felicity as he went up to congratulate her and Oliver on their marriage.

“You think that was a bad decision on my part?” Felicity asked solemnly with a twinkle in her eye as she watched Oliver bristle slightly beside her.

“You two are made for each other,” John beamed at the both of them and raise his glass, “Congratulations both of you.”

Felicity had decided that one of the perks of moving into the palace was that she would get a chance to spend time and get to know John better. They had developed a great rapport in the time he stayed at her parents’ home and Felicity was looking forward to his company again. 

The other bright spot was the Ray of this world whom Felicity was getting to know again. Ray who interestingly was the Diplomatic Advisor and general “morale booster” as Oliver liked to call him was exactly the person she knew back in her old life. Upbeat, positive to a fault and all round mother hen. It was also fun to see Oliver fight his internal battle between his soft spot for Ray and his irritation at the other man’s boundless enthusiasm. The only thing that took some time getting used to was Ray’s marriage to Anna who Felicity had always known as the one that got away. Felicity had been privy to many long tearful phone calls and visits from Ray about Anna. At first she found it hard to accept that Zari was only Ray’s friend in this world. The last memory she had of Ray was him inviting her to his and Zari’s date night.

As each day passed Felicity began to feel more and more like she was slowly setting down roots in this world. She didn’t regret her decision to marry Oliver however as their wedding day drew closer, the more nervous she felt. They had not had a conversation regarding the terms of their marriage exactly.

This marriage wasn’t a sham. At least she didn’t think it was. They weren’t trying to deceive anyone or gain any benefit from it. It wasn’t arranged and arose from their complete free will. Oliver had hinted he was in love with her and although Felicity knew it was too soon for real love; there was certainly plenty of attraction, admiration and fondness. On her part as well as his. She just wondered how things were going to play out on an every day basis. Would they jump in headfirst and do all the things married couples did while getting to know each other? Was this going to be a marriage in name only and they were going to tip toe around and try to date each other before they took the relationship to another level? It was such a strange start to a relationship.

Whenever Felicity broached the subject Oliver would engage in some sort of gentle physical contact and stare at her with that fervent gaze of his, declaring emphatically everything was to be on her terms. To be honest that frazzled her more instead of providing the comfort she was sure he intended. 

If only Oliver did something, anything Felicity felt like it would elicit a reaction from her and in the process give her a better indication of where her own feelings stood. She had no qualms telling him she needed space if she wasn’t ready. She just didn’t know what to do with all the pining and stoic devotion.

***

“You must be tired,” Oliver said, wrapping his arms around her as she sat in front of her dressing table getting ready for bed.

Felicity perked up at the gesture. He was being all affectionate and snuggly. He was usually affectionate but they hadn’t shared living quarters yet so she was taking this as an encouraging sign. Maybe because he was from this world, which was so much more conservative, Oliver wanted to wait until they were married before he put moves on her. It also went with his whole noble, self-sacrificing warrior thing. 

“Not too tired,” Felicity smiled up at him suggestively, leaning her head back against his body.

He looked down at her with a set of devoted heart eyes and kissed the top of her head. “Your bath is ready,” he told her before giving her another kiss, on the cheek this time. “I told the servants to leave because I know you don’t like people hovering. I ran your bath myself.” He took her hand and gently pulled her up from her chair.

“Protector of Starling and my own personal man servant,” Felicity laughed. “I’m a very lucky girl.”

“I’m the lucky one Felicity. You agreed to marry me remember?” He had that serious, pining look again and Felicity was beginning to feel suspicious as to how things were going to play out tonight. He had her all to himself, the servants had been sent away and she was about to walk into a bath. The melancholic pining look was not what she was expecting. Felicity smiled brightly at him and was about to pull him in with her for a newlywed bath together (at this stage she figured maybe Oliver needed really clear signs of encouragement) when he once again looked at her fondly and kissed her on the nose before telling her to take her bath so the water wouldn’t get cold. “I’ll wait for you in bed,” he promised as he led her to the bathroom. 

Felicity was puzzled but not discouraged. He did say he was going to wait for her in bed. Maybe he wanted their first time to be on the bed. Maybe he wanted her scrubbed and smelling like roses. Actually now that she thought about it Oliver looked and smelled freshly bathed. He must have bathed himself when the servants were helping her take off her wedding garb. 

***

Felicity hopped out of the bath and wrapped herself in a towel. Since they were married she vowed to get rid of those damn bed robes her mother made her wear. She had gone to see the palace seamstress and after a few raised eyebrows had managed to score herself a bevy of skimpy bedclothes. They were going to be newly weds were they not? She was going to show Oliver a thing or two about her world even if she was never returning to it.

“Hi,” Felicity stuck her head out and smiled breezily at him before strutting to bed in what looked like a skimpy silk apron. The palace seamstresses were whizzes and although there was no stretchy fabric Felicity found they could make the skimpiest looking outfits from silk based on her instructions.

The outfit was commanding its desired effect as Oliver swallowed nervously with his eyes glued on her. Felicity smiled innocently at him and slowly crawled into bed. “Good night,” she said throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his face all over. Oliver instinctively gave her a peck back before straightening himself again, still watching her, his posture rigid and tense.

“You seem so tense,” Felicity smiled cheekily. She held up her fingers and wiggled them at him. “Want a massage? I have magic fingers? I can really help you relax.”

Oliver stared at her slack jawed for a good few seconds before he regained his composure. Damn his excellent composure and his stupid heart eyes, which were once again making an appearance. Felicity was beginning to think those heart eyes were a buzz kill. Oliver wasn’t going to do anything to her when he had those heart eyes. He was just going to sit around looking smitten and moon after her. And not the kind of mooning she wanted either. Felicity let out a sigh, her face falling.

Oliver gently urged her to lie down, his face hovering over hers as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Get some rest Felicity. It’s been a big day.”

***

The weird dance between them continued until Felicity finally cracked and decided to up the ante. She did not understand what was going on with him. Every night he’d lie in bed shirtless and be all touchy and feely with her (but only PG rated touchy feely, never did he dial it up) only to kiss her on her damn forehead and bid her goodnight. She wanted to smack herself on the forehead just to see how he would react. Who was she kidding? He’d probably kiss it some more. 

They were on a honeymoon of sorts with Oliver planning something for them every day. His biggest and most gallant gesture was an entire wing with state of the art equipment (well for this world anyway) plus her own staff to aid her with her work.

There was nothing Oliver wouldn’t do for her. He even spent countless hours listening to her babble about her coding and when Felicity sadly lamented that she would never be able to code again he had asked if there was anything he could do which would allow her to build her own computer. Felicity in response to this had been tempted to pulled him in for a heated kiss but there was a part of her that wanted him to kiss her first. Damnit he proposed with trumpets and drums. What game was he playing at acting all coy and gentlemanly? 

***

“Goodnight Oliver,” Felicity crawled onto his lap and kissed him on the cheek, taking time to nuzzle her nose against his. He was shirtless of course, always shirtless with nothing but a pair of thin loose pants on.

“What’s this for?” he asked with a smile on his face, wrapping his arms around her.

“Well since we’re newlyweds I just thought…we should be closer,” Felicity answered holding his gaze with hers. “Kiss me damnit,” she willed silently to herself. Oliver simply smiled and held her tighter. They stayed like that for a while before he kissed her on the forehead and rolled her on her back to sleep.

At this point Felicity wanted to smack him. What was with the man and his forehead kisses. Who keeps kissing their wife on the forehead? Maybe he didn’t want her that way? Maybe he had no sex drive? The way he looked at her suggested otherwise. Letting out a frustrated huff Felicity decided it was time to end this charade once and for all. Find out what the deal with Oliver was.

She waited until she could hear him breathing softly, his handsome face looking serene and relaxed. The only lighting in the room was the soft candlelight provided by the lamp on her side of the bed. She knew he was a light sleeper but after sleeping beside him for almost a week, Felicity realized he wasn’t jumpy when sleeping next to her. Whenever she did roll into him during sleep, she’d wake up to find herself in his arms. Which made the situation between them all the more maddening.

Quietly Felicity shrugged off her little piece of silk cloth and crawled on top of Oliver, pondering how long she needed to keep her weight there before he would wake up. It didn’t take very long.

“Felicity,” Oliver murmured groggily, his hands intuitively wrapping around her waist, feeling her on top of him.

“Mmm hmm,” Felicity answered with a wicked grin on her face. There were those hands again, roaming up and down her body. Felicity wondered when he would be fully alert.

The answer prodded her right in the thigh and Felicity let out a small giggle as she wiggled a bit on top of him.

“Felicity,” Oliver’s eyes flew wide open as he stared at her. 

“Yes Oliver?” she answered, wiggling and making an extra effort to brush her thigh against his manhood which was now wide awake and nestled happily between her legs. 

“Felicity you’re naked.” His voice wavered a little but Felicity noticed he didn’t or couldn’t stop running his hands up and down her body.

“Yes I believe I am,” she grinned impishly at him, propping her arms up on his chest so she could get a good look at his face. He looked a little besotted and a little desperate. Just the way she wanted him.

“Now what are you going to do about it Oliver? Are you going to kiss me on the forehead again or are you going to do something about my nakedness. Because I’m all for making the first move but I don’t think I have any moves left after crawling on top of you naked so if you don’t do anything about this I’m just going to assume you don’t want me.” Felicity feigned an exaggerate sigh as she ground her hips against his. 

To her surprise his hand stopped right at her arse as he gave her bottom a gentle but firm slap before rolling her onto her back, trapping her under him. “Don’t ever say that I don’t want you,” he growled at her just before he covered her mouth with his and kissed her senseless. That was only the beginning. He did a lot of other things to her that night.

***

 **6 months later**  

 

Clang, clang, clang, Felicity stared mesmerised as Oliver moved up and down the salmon ladder, covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Some time back he had suggested converting one of the wings of the palace into a joint space for them. Somewhere she could work on her gadgets and he could train and sharpen his arrows.

Felicity had readily agreed. She loved spending time with Oliver and although she loved her work she really missed him when she was away from him all those hours down in her lab. The shared bunker as she called it sounded like an amazing idea.

It was a terrible idea. She could barely get any work done. Felicity’s productivity plummeted by half according to her calculations. Oliver was distractingly handsome and she suspected he enjoyed preening around her without a shirt on. Outside of the bunker he was the same regal, dignified ruler, always well dressed in his robes but for some reason as soon as he set foot in the bunker he would lose half his clothes.

Who was she kidding, Felicity knew perfectly well why he did that. There had been a seemingly innocuous conversation between them, one of those casual ones where they lay snuggled in each other’s arms and talked about whatever came into their heads. Oliver had delivered wonderful platitudes about her rear end. In the spirit of sharing Felicity had confessed that she enjoyed a sweaty Oliver more than she let on. From that day on Oliver made sure to always engage in some sort of vigorous sweaty exercise when they were down in the bunker. Without anything to cover his top half of course.

Felicity snapped out of her daydream when she noticed the sound of the salmon ladder had stopped and Oliver was stalking over towards her with a smug smile on his face.

“Distracted?” he smirked pulling her towards him. Felicity pouted in protest although she couldn’t help but stare at his abs as her hands automatically gravitated towards him, her fingers running up and down his fine, fine abs. Dammit in another life she had an IQ of 170 and was a certified genius. Sweaty abs were not going to best her willpower.

Felicity gave his bicep a squeeze before gulping down some air, trying to pull herself together. “Nope, I am perfectly fine. About to start working on making your suit more resilient. I was just taking a break that’s all.” Felicity turned her back to him. Stop looking at his sweaty body and you’ll be fine she told herself. 

“You don’t look fine,” Oliver whispered into her ear and swiftly pulled her backwards into his body. Felicity closed her eyes and melted as he kissed her.

***

“This is the last time we are going to do such things down here in our work space,” Felicity informed Oliver firmly with as much dignity as she could muster while completely naked in his arms.

“You always say that,” Oliver chuckled, giving her a playful peck on the lips.

“I mean it Oliver. I need to get your suit revamped. What will happen if another big bad rolls into Starling and your suit is not adequate to protect you. You have to promise not to stalk me like prey whenever we are in the bunker.”

“I do not stalk you like prey,” Oliver protested. “I mind my own business, do some training exercises and then I stop by to give my wife a kiss and see how she’s doing. It’s not like I’m chasing you around the bunker now am I? Although…..” he paused and grinned at her wickedly, “That could be quite fun.” 

“Oliver,” Felicity pouted, looking like a disgruntled bear cub, which caused him to hug her even tighter. “What’s gotten into you recently?”

“You,” Oliver answered. This time there was no smirk, no teasing laugh as he pressed his forehead against hers. “I love you so much Felicity. You make me the happiest man in the universe.”

“I love you,” Felicity responded, kissing him softly. Felicity knew in that moment, despite the challenges of this world, she wanted to be here, in this place and time with Oliver forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are so cute together I just couldn't go through with my tragic ending so managed to *think think* my way to a Happily Ever After that I hope you will all enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiii
> 
> Okies folks thanks for making it this far with me!
> 
> Now before you read this chapter remember that it was based on a Chinese movie and that you must suspend disbelief!
> 
> Other than that I hope you enjoy it!

“So it’s basically just a chin up and a flourish at the end,” Oliver demonstrated before hopping off the salmon ladder to let Felicity have her turn. They had both been fixated on their respective tasks earlier in the evening and ended up instructing the servants to send their dinner to the bunker.

One meal and a lot of wine later they decided it would be a great idea for Oliver to teach Felicity how to conquer the salmon ladder.

“I don’t flourish well,” Felicity peered at the salmon ladder uncertainly. 

“I have faith in you,” Oliver smiled as he beckoned her over and lifted her up. He walked around the ladder, about to give Felicity some words of encouragement when she vanished before his eyes. There was no other way to describe it. Felicity was dangling off the salmon ladder and then in a split second there was nothing. Just pure air in the spot where she should be swinging.

Oliver’s first thought was that someone had spiked their food or the wine. There was something wrong with what they had consumed because his mind was playing tricks on him and Felicity had literally vanished before his eyes.

Before he had time to process what he had seen or thought he saw Felicity reappeared, falling from where she should have been hanging on the ladder. Without even thinking Oliver raised his outstretched arms to catch her. 

“Help,” Felicity yelped right before she landed in his arms.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you honey,” Oliver whispered holding her tightly, burying his head into her hair. 

“Hey, take it easy, I just lost my grip. I think I’ve had too much to drink. I just blacked out and fell. Probably a bad idea to try that after drinking so much,” she grinned at him sheepishly. 

Oliver pulled back a little to get a good look at Felicity. She was beautiful as always, her cheeks rosy, her blue eyes twinkling happily, no signs that she was suffering from any poisoning or ill effects. Slowly he cupped her cheek and pulled her towards him. “I’m always going to be here to catch you and hold onto you.” 

“Oliver it’s ok. I’m perfectly fine I promise. Dead drunk but fine. And like you said you were here to catch me. What’s wrong?” She tilted her head and peered at him, pushing away her buzzy state of drunkenness. “You’re suddenly super intense, even for you.”

“I was just worried when you fell that’s all.” Oliver tried his best to smile and brush it off not wanting to worry her although he knew deep down his instincts told him there was something wrong. He had placed Felicity on that salmon ladder himself. Her hands were gripping on the bar. And then there was nothing but air. Still he didn’t want to burden Felicity with it until he did some more investigating. 

“Oliver,” Felicity pouted smiling at him lazily and looking sleepy. “I don’t think I can walk back to our room. Too sleepy and drunk.” She stuck out her lower lip and gave him the most beseeching look she could muster; causing Oliver to almost forget the anxiety he had been feeling since he saw her vanish. Without another word he swooped her up in his arms, carrying her bridal style. 

“I’ll take you back to our quarters,” he smiled softly at her. “You need to sleep off all the wine you drank.” 

“Maybe not sleep yet,” Felicity winked impishly at him with her _Felicity Wink_ , slapping his rear end. He called it a _Felicity Wink_ because Felicity did not actually possess the physical ability to wink. She looked like she was scrunching up half her face whenever she tried. 

“You’re tired and you’ve had too much to drink. You definitely need to sleep,” Oliver coaxed as he carried her down the halls. Felicity giggled and proceeded to slap his bottom repeatedly.

“Maybe I need something else before I sleep,” she answered, trying to kiss him while he was carrying her. Felicity always got handsy when she was drunk. 

“Be good and wait until we get to the room,” Oliver admonished, failing to hold back the smile that was fighting it’s way through despite the uneasiness he had been feeling. 

“Yay, I’m going to get some,” Felicity called loudly as she clapped her hands. Several guards on the way lifted their eyes with interest only to avert then when they saw Oliver’s menacing glare as he sped up as fast as he could.

When Felicity was in this state it was wisest to get her to their private quarters as quickly as possible. She tended to get rather…amorous with him after a few drinks. Felicity had an undeniable wicked streak and was prone to raunchy behavior around him when she was sober (not that Oliver ever had a problem with this, in fact he encouraged it) but she was an absolute rascal once she had consumed a significant amount of wine.

*** 

 _I’m not from this world_. Those words had finally come back to haunt him. Oliver had always felt there was a significance to those words, that somehow they would one day mean something greater than what Felicity had intended for them to mean.

He glanced down Felicity who was peacefully sleeping on her tummy. Gingerly he reached out a hand to stoke her cheek, causing her to smile in her sleep. She was always so responsive to him, even when she was fast asleep. Oliver slipped down under the covers and pulled Felicity towards him. She obliged, still fast asleep and wiggled into his embrace happily.

“Is this the beginning of the end,” he thought to himself as he held onto her, all warm and soft and so very tangible in his arms at this moment. She was right there, right within his grasp. Maybe his initial instincts had been right. Felicity really was too good to be true. She was his light and happiness, everything he could ever want. And for a short time he believed that the universe had deemed it was his time for happiness and had given him Felicity whose appearance in this world was as magical as the joy and peace she brought him.

Oliver pushed the thoughts out of his mind. It was beyond ridiculous to believe that Felicity was sent from somewhere and the universe was going to take her away to spite him. It was true that her existence was magical but if it was magic he was dealing with it was more likely that Damian Darhk and the Legion of Doom were behind Felicity’s sudden vanishing act. Word had no doubt spread about this nuptials and his happiness. He could see the Legion of Doom trying to take away the one thing he loved the most to cripple him so they could make their move on Starling. Right now he really needed to keep his head and look into this.

***

“Oliver I’ve looked into it, Lyla’s looked into it and there is nothing to indicate that the Legion of Doom has any interest in Felicity. We have reason to believe they are planning something big. Darhk has travelled around accumulating totems but as far as we can see this incident of Felicity vanishing has nothing to do with them.” 

John didn’t know what else to say to his friend. It would be highly insensitive to expand on what he thought the Legion was planning right now when Oliver was obviously going through some turmoil about Felicity. Oliver was stubborn once he made up his mind about something but John had never seen him so anxious before. Oliver always acted swiftly and cleanly, he did not panic. His current state worried John immensely. John wondered if this was simply a manifestation of Oliver’s belief that he could never truly find happiness. He’d lost his parents, his sister and was left with the burden of protecting an entire city. John knew Oliver had always believed he was destined to live and die with Starling, that there was nothing else for him. Then Felicity entered the picture and changed all that. Perhaps on some level Oliver still didn’t believe he could ever be the recipient of so much happiness, hence obsessing with ways in which he might lose Felicity.

“I know what you’re thinking John. I am not crazy. She really did vanish and reappear before my eyes,” Oliver spoke as if reading John’s thoughts. “I’m happy John, for the first time in years I’m happy. I can see a future for us. A happy one where we work out everything together, and that includes fighting the Legion of Doom. But she vanished right before my eyes. This is not something I made up to question my happiness.”

“We have no leads right now. You told me that Felicity is completely unaware that she vanished. There is nothing we can do Oliver. We just have to wait it out.”

“She’s always said she came from another world. What if this is her time to go back. What if she vanishes and doesn’t come back John.” For the first time in their friendship John saw fear in his friend’s eyes.

“If that happens Felicity will find a way to come back to you. She would never leave you,” John assured him kindly whilst hoping and praying that he was saying the right things. He did believe in his words though. If there was one thing John was certain of it was that these two kids loved each other dearly and desperately. Felicity would always find a way back to Oliver.

*** 

“You know I never thought of myself as someone who was good with my hands, I mean I’ve been building computers since I was seven but being here, with the lack of tools, it’s really let me explore my capabilities and I am proud to say there is a very capable little builder inside me. Who would have thought?” Felicity was chatting away cheerfully as she whittled down a piece of wood. No doubt it was something for someone in the palace. Felicity had a knack of befriending the servants and using her knowledge to help sort out their woes. Any reservations about his choice of wife had been swiftly put to rest, as everyone in the palace adored their new Empress. Felicity’s charm and kindness dominated whenever she entered a room, overshadowing any quirks or unique mannerisms she might have. 

Oliver looked up from where he was sharpening his arrows, a fond smile gracing his face. His smile quickly faded as the arrow he was holding onto fell out of his hand. Felicity wasn’t there anymore. She had been right there, babbling happily to him and now there was nothing in the spot where she stood.

“Felicity,” he called frantically, desperation quickly taking over as he ran to the spot where his wife had been standing. She was gone. Just like that. “Felicity,” Oliver cried out again, his voice taking on a pleading tone. Who he was pleading to he did not know. All Oliver knew was that he couldn’t fight, strategize or even self sacrifice his way out of this. Felicity had vanished and it was completely beyond his control. He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. Not that he could ever find it in him to say good bye to her but since his talk with John he had forced himself into a state of denial, telling himself that maybe his brain had played a trick on him that night.

Oliver sank to the ground and stared around the bunker in bewilderment. There was no denying what happened this time. Felicity had literally disappeared while in the same room as him and she was gone. 

*** 

Oliver didn’t know how long he sat in a crumpled heap on the bunker floor when a loud rap on the door caused him to stir.

“Oliver,” Felicity burst in, slamming the door behind her. “Oliver we need to talk. I think something is very wrong with me.”

Oliver bolted up to greet her and Felicity fell into his arms. He pulled her in for a crushing hug, gently squeezing her to make sure she really was there. Oliver clung onto her tightly. Irrational as it seemed, it felt like the tighter he clung onto her, the less likely she was to vanish. Somehow he wanted to believe that his arms could physically hold her back so she would stay here with him. 

“Oliver I just lost a block of time. It’s happened to me a bit lately and at first I thought I was just tired and still not used to all this heat but lately I have been losing chunks of time. Sometimes I would be in one place and then suddenly I’d find myself in another place and time has passed without me remembering anything about what I had done or why I ended up in the new location. But today Oliver today is the first time where it feels like hours have lapsed. I swear I was in the bunker speaking to you and working. Then I woke up in our bed. And I saw things too Oliver. When I woke up in our bed I suddenly have all these memories of myself in a hospital. I looked like I was in a coma. I was lying very still in a bed. In Ivy Town Hospital. And Ray, my Ray and my mother, my real mother I mean and all my friends, they were all visiting me in hospital. Everything looked like it was back where I came from. I’ve never had any visions or dreams of my old world until now. Something is happening to me Oliver. Whatever brought me here, it feels like it’s forcing me to go back.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she was speaking. His Felicity who was always so tenacious, optimistic and who never needed saving was gazing at him helplessly as if she were begging him to do something to fix this, to save her and keep her here.

Oliver gripped onto Felicity tighter and buried his head in her hair, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill. This was it. This was the beginning of the end. One day she was going to vanish, never to return to him again. “I love you,” he murmured. “I love you so much.” And yet some how it wasn’t enough. Deep down Oliver knew all the love he had for her was not going to keep her here. 

“I love you too,” she replied in a tearful voice. “My biggest fear in this life is losing you. I don’t want to go back Oliver. I don’t know what is happening but I don’t want to go back.”

Oliver didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. So he kissed Felicity instead, giving her all the kisses he could while she was still his.

***

It happened more frequently after that. One minute she’d be speaking to him or lying in bed next to him and the next minute she’d vanish only to reappear again minutes or hours later. They managed the situation by keeping Felicity away from everyone, citing that the Empress had fallen very ill. Only John and Ray were in the loop about Felicity’s condition. 

After a few more disappearances and visions Felicity finally worked out (or at least made an educated guess) what was wrong with her.

“I’m in a coma in my original world,” she informed Oliver, trying to brush aside her emotions in order to explain things to him as calmly and factually as possible. They had shed a lot of tears lately even though those tears were in vain. “Every time I vanish from here it’s my body recovering, making progress and trying to wake up from the coma.” 

“How did you work that out?” Oliver asked quietly, not really wanting to know the answer. Felicity was brilliant and he knew any conclusion she came up with was bound to be right. He didn’t want her to be right though. He wanted the answer to be something caused by the Legion of Doom, some enemy he could defeat to save her. Not the universe. He couldn’t fight the universe even if he were willing to give it a good go.

“Every time I vanish I feel a pull back to my body that’s in a coma. In the early stages I would see myself lying there in the hospital with my family and friends all telling me how much they want me to wake up. Lately they’ve been telling me what good progress I’ve been making, how the doctor says I’m more responsive. Plus every time I vanish and try to come back here, I feel like…like…” she hesitated, not wanting to confirm their worst fears.

“You feel like you have to fight harder to return here,” Oliver finished for her. Their days were numbered. He had always known this and yet he still felt like he couldn’t face having it all laid out on the table. It wasn’t the beginning of the end anymore. They were fast hurtling towards the end. Every kiss, every hug, every touch could be their last.

Felicity suddenly threw herself into him, wrapping her small arms around his waist. “I think I know how to fix this Oliver. I’m not 100% sure but when I think about it, it makes sense. I think there might be a way to stop fighting.”

“How?” Oliver asked, still focused on holding her, taking in the scent of her hair, the way her soft curls fell on her shoulders. He had always had faith in Felicity. She could do anything she set her mind to but this time he knew it wasn’t about Felicity’s abilities, just like he couldn’t physically fight his way out of this. All her brainpower and problem solving skills could not counter the fact that she was due to go back to where she came from.

“I need to die in my world. If my body dies I won’t be pulled back into it. Think about it. It all makes sense. Every time I vanish now I see someone talking about the progress I am making in my old world. Which means the reason why I keep vanishing is because my body is recovering and something is pushing me back into it. If I can somehow die in the real world, there is no danger of waking up and I won’t be pulled back. I can stay here with you forever Oliver.” She looked at him earnestly, the hope and desperation evident in her eyes.

Oliver cupped her cheek and smiled a sad smile, shaking his head. “You can’t die Felicity. Not here, not in your world. We can’t risk that. I can’t risk that. For all we know, your death in your world could lead you to vanish from here completely.”

“But,” Felicity interjected, wanting to protest. She was willing to give anything a try if it meant staying here with him. Oliver raised a hand gently to her lips, stopping her from speaking.

“Your appearance in this world was a miracle. Even you admit yourself there is no scientific explanation for it. You don’t know where this place is, whether it’s an alternate universe, a dream, an illusion. We don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s time for you to go back to where you came from. The universe demands it and I think we’d be foolish to fight it.”

“But Oliver…you and me…” tears rolled down Felicity’s cheeks again. She had cried enough for a lifetime in the past few weeks.

“I know,” Oliver assured her, kissing her softly. “We love each other so much. These were the best few months of my life Felicity and….” His voice faltered but he regained his composure and continued. “And even if it ended far too soon I don’t regret falling in love with you. I hope you don’t remember any of this. I want you to wake up from that coma and move on. Be the best entrepreneur you can be and do that coding again that you love so much.”

“I love you more.”

“I know.” Oliver was fighting so hard not to break down in front of her. His attempts to try and smile broke her heart just that little bit more.

“I never want to forget you. Forget us. I won’t. I’ll fight it,” Felicity sobbed into his chest. “I never ever want to forget you Oliver.”

“I know honey but it’s time for you to stop fighting it. It’s inevitable Felicity. We can’t delay the inevitable. We have to let each other go. And if you remember all this when you wake up I want you to promise me one thing. Can you do that for me Felicity?” Oliver’s tone was pleading. Even through his tears Felicity knew that whatever it was he wanted from her was important to him, important to his survival when she was gone. Felicity nodded, choking back a sob.

“If you do remember any of this, if you remember me. I want you to promise me that you’ll treat it all like it was one big dream and try to live the best life that you can. The only way I’m going to survive losing you is if I know that you’re out there somewhere, happy and living your life.” He cupped her cheeks and pulled her towards him, kissing her gently on the forehead. “Promise me?” 

“Promise,” Felicity nodded tears running down her face.

Three days later while sleeping in Oliver’s arms, Felicity vanished. This time she did not return. 

*** 

**Ivy Town**

“You really should take it easy.” Ray poked his head in at the door, frowning at Felicity, concern written all over his face.

Felicity tried to brush off the sense of irritation she felt, biting back the snappy comment she was about to make. Poor Ray, he was just worried about her. She was devoted to her prototype when her accident happened and now as far as he was concerned she was spiralling back into it again, working feverishly to get it into production. 

Ever since she woke up everyone had been incessantly hovering around her. It was suffocating to watch their concerned looks towards her and the looks they exchanged with each other. Ray called and dropped in unannounced all the time; the personal boundaries she had trained him on during the course of their friendship were being obliterated. Zari who Felicity remembered as being more tactful was just as intrusive. Barry texted repeatedly and kept trying to arrange unwelcome trips up to visit her. Her mother texted daily and constantly threatened to fly in. Logically Felicity knew they cared. They all loved her and were glad to have her back. They were worried about her and how she was coping. But it was all so suffocating, and the truth was she wasn’t coping. Not without Oliver. But her friends and family didn’t know this. It wasn’t their fault she was suffering from a broken heart that she couldn’t tell anyone about.

Every day she woke up and put on a brave face, trying desperately to keep her promise to him. Live the best life that she could. Felicity soon found the easiest way to cope was to bury herself back in her business. Thus she began the cycle of working herself to the point of exhaustion every day and then crashing in bed before waking up to do it all over again.

“I’ll take it easy when I get this approved for production,” Felicity replied casually, trying to brush Ray off. “We’re almost there Ray. This is one of those rare ones that will be a money maker and help the environment.” 

“Speaking of taking it easy, I feel like a hypocrite for asking this but did you want to handle the Queens Consolidated deal? I was going to handle it myself but the deal involves us providing the software and them manufacturing the hardware so I figured you’re better for the job than I am.” 

He paused and swallowed nervously before flashing her a sheepish grin, “Plus I am terrified of that Moira Queen and I just know I’ll crack in front of her and we’ll end up with the raw end of the deal. You’re so much better at negotiations than I am. You look so harmless and then POW.” Ray mock punched the air and Felicity couldn’t help but smile in spite of herself.

“As opposed to you who looks and acts like a big softie puppy?” Felicity teased him.

“Moira Queen is a very scary woman. If anyone else was running the deal, that very nice British husband of hers for instance. Walter! He’s a fair and reasonable man. Actually I’d deal with anyone besides Moira.” Ray actually shuddered causing Felicity to laugh at him again. She suddenly felt slightly guilty for even wanting to snap at him earlier. 

“I’ll do it. I’ll have Gerry call them to arrange a suitable time. It will be good to get back to coding again or at least the coding side of the business after this solar panel production takes off.”

“You are a life saver. Seriously this is for Smoak Palmer Technologies. We’ll get the fair standing we’re entitled to if you deal with Moira Queen.” Ray was practically bouncing, clearly relieved that he didn’t have to see Moira Queen anytime in the future. “Hey you want to come to dinner with Zari and I? You can pick the venue! Our treat. Anything you want.”

Felicity shook her head. She wasn’t ready for a social outing yet as much as they kept trying to drag her out. She kept telling herself soon but not yet. Business dinners were fine; they involved work or socializing for the purpose of achieving something work related. There was something about facing her friends and trying to hide (unsuccessfully) how unhappy she was, all while not being able to share with them the reason for her unhappiness that Felicity couldn’t deal with. When she did eventually go out again she expected herself to achieve a certain level of peace. Whenever that may be.

“Ok but Zari will insist we drop some food here for you. We’ll just bring you food and leave but there’s no way I can talk Zari out of it. Actually I don’t know if I want to talk her out of it. You really need to eat and we both know you’re not going to leave this lab to get food or even bother to call for it.” Ray shot her a knowing look with the air of having bested her, at least in regards to dinner. 

“I can live with that,” Felicity smiled at her best friend.

***

Oliver Queen. Felicity closed her eyes wondering what sort of masochistic punishment she had set up for herself by agreeing to manage the Queens Consolidated deal and agreeing to fly to Star City to meet Moira Queen. 

The first thing Felicity had done after she regained consciousness and was given access to all her beloved technology was conducting a search on this world’s Oliver Queen.

Four time college drop out, womanizing playboy, son of Moira Queen, brother to Thea Queen and heir apparent to the Queen empire, the Oliver Queen of this world bore little resemblance to the man who was the love of her life despite his identical physical appearance. Oliver Queen ran Verdant, the trendiest nightclub in Star City, an indulgent hobby paid for by his mother, who despite her formidable reputation in the business arena could not manage either of her children in real life. 

By taking on this project with Queens Consolidated Felicity was acutely aware that she might be failing to fulfill her promise to Oliver. Here she was volunteering to deal with the family of this foreign version of him, a family that didn’t even exist in his world. Still Felicity told herself this was all part of her process to move on.

Queens Consolidated was a big player in the technology world. Smoak Palmer Technologies would eventually run into them and she really couldn’t foist the deal off to Ray, who was ill equipped to handle it, just so she could hide from anything that reminded her of Oliver. Felicity was going to fly to Star City and show herself that she could conquer this. It was her first step to piecing her life together and hopefully she would eventually fulfill her promise to Oliver. 

The Oliver Queen of this world had nothing to do with the family business. He was a self-indulgent playboy whom she would likely never run into. He was not her Oliver.

***

Felicity knew she could no longer lie to herself. This wasn’t an attempt to move on. This was her rubbing salt on her wounds to see how much more they could hurt. She should never have set foot in Star City. She could have sent Alena to go with Ray, could have invited Moira Queen to Ivy Town and hosted her there but instead she chose to go to Star City. And now she found herself drifting aimlessly around Verdant, looking for Oliver Queen out of some morbid fascination. 

Felicity avoided the crowded dance floor with its mosh pit of moving bodies. She smoothed out her red dress with a thigh high split self consciously suddenly feeling ridiculous. What was she even doing here? What was she hoping to find? Putting on a tight revealing red dress, walking into a place like this. Oliver wasn’t here. Her Oliver wasn’t here. She was supposed to move on. Either mourn him or move on and yet here she was on some hunt for his doppelganger. 

Shaking her head at the ludicrous situation, Felicity headed for the exit, rushing to get out of Verdant as fast as she could. What was she thinking? What did she hope to accomplish with this? Even if she did find Oliver Queen he wasn’t her Oliver. Her Oliver wasn’t replaceable. Why was she in this place, trying to find his replacement? The whole thing was gross. Adding shame to her already long list of negative emotions Felicity push blindly towards the exit, crashing into a tall sturdy figure who caught and steadied her just before she was about to topple backwards. 

“Sorry, I was in such a rush I didn’t see you. It’s been a trying sort of day I just wanted to get out of here…” Felicity looked up to find herself staring into the face of Oliver Queen. The identical resemblance was too much for her to bear and for a moment her brain gave way to the fantasy that maybe this was her Oliver and he had somehow found her here. 

“Oliver,” she murmured grabbing his arm. She was in a dream like state as she held onto his arm and stared at him. “Oliver…” 

“Oliver Queen at your service and I think I would remember a girl like you.” The response, coupled with his suggestive smirk shook Felicity out of her temporary delusion. She dropped his arm as if it were burning her and took a step back.

“I’m very sorry. So sorry,” she muttered. “You look identical to someone I lost. For a moment there I thought you were him. Really stupid of me. Of course you’re not him. You just look exactly like him. I’m going to go now.” Felicity tried to make a beeline for the exit when he caught hold of her arm gently and stepped in front of her to block her. 

“Hey, hey it’s ok. I was only teasing,” he flashed her a devilish grin but spoke in a gentle tone. “Girls normally pull the familiar _Oh Oliver I know you_ line on me but they don’t usually run like you do. You’ve managed to destroy my ego in a matter of seconds.” 

“Like I said I was just mistaken. You look like someone I used to know. Sorry I grabbed you.” She smiled an apologetic smile and once again tried to move towards the exit.

“You mean someone you used to love?” Oliver Queen asked looking directly into her eyes. His tone was not unkind, more a mixture of curiosity with a touch of fascination. 

“Yes someone I used to love,” Felicity admitted looking away to avoid his eyes. There was a glimpse of warmth in those eyes and seeing that familiar look only added more to her pain.

“You look like you still love him.” His arm had moved to her shoulder where it rested casually. 

“I do,” Felicity responded simply. “And for a brief moment I thought you were him. I’m sorry. I really should leave now.”

“Want to talk about it?” he asked with a sincerity she did not expect. “I’m not hitting on you I swear. You have really sad eyes. Beautiful eyes but really sad eyes. Do you want to talk about it? To the man who looks like the man you lost? You never know it might be good for you. Help you heal.” There it was again, that sincere tone with a hint of playfulness in his expression. Whatever faults Oliver Queen had there was one redeeming quality about him. He was kind.

“No but thank you for the offer. I love him and I will always love him. I need to start keeping my promise to him. You’ve been very nice to me. Crazy girl who grabbed you and all.” She smiled at him awkwardly and rushed off before he had a chance to stop her again.

“Hey can I at least get your name?” Felicity heard his voice calling after her but did not look back as she left Verdant. She was never going to look back again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe that was rough wasn't it! Told you it would all go to hell in chapter 3.
> 
> DON'T WORRY! I WILL FIX THIS!!!
> 
> I have a lovely ending planned that I am confident you guys will be satisfied with. I even consulted my friend Bkwurm1 on it and she gave me her approval and some wonderful ideas so it's going to be all okay I promise! The ending has been vetted!!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiii
> 
> As promised the conclusion to this story! 
> 
> I do hope you guys are satisfied with it!
> 
> Thank you so much to Bkwurm1 for helping me decide on what was ultimately the superior ending and for giving me some fabulous ideas! There were a few things I would have totally missed without her help!
> 
> Thank you to all of you who read this story anyway even when it had ALL the crazy warnings in the first chapter! Every comment and kudo means so much to me when I write weird stuff like this!

  **Starling**  

“I won’t let you do this,” John shook his head. He uttered the words but both he and Oliver knew there was very little force behind them.

“But you must,” Oliver replied dully, his face almost emotionless. It was the only expression he was capable of these days. Grief, devastation, heartache had all played out and now there was nothing left for him to feel. Nothing but an empty hopelessness and the sinking feeling of knowing that he could never be happy again. Sometimes he missed her so much he felt desperate enough to try and bargain with the universe to bring her back. He would do anything to see her again but deep down he knew he had nothing to offer. If he could have kept Felicity here he would have and the fact that he lost her meant his fate was already sealed. Nothing was going to change it. 

“There’s nothing left for me here John. There is no purpose for me other than to protect Starling.”

“What good are you to protect Starling if you go on this suicide mission and wind up dead. Who is going to be the Green Arrow? Who will protect Starling?” John parroted off the same questions he had been throwing at Oliver over and over again, knowing that any attempts to stop his friend were futile. Oliver was stubborn and self-sacrificing at best. He hit rock bottom when Felicity vanished and it was a miracle he was even here communicating with John before he charged off to face the Legion of Doom. 

“Starling will have you after I’m gone. And it’s not a suicide mission for naught. I would eliminate every single member of the Legion of Doom. Deathstroke, Ra’s Al Ghul and Damian Darhk, I will destroy them all. That’s why you need to stay behind. The people need a Green Arrow to protect Starling after I’m gone. You know I’m right John. My death won’t be in vain.” Oliver’s tone was set. He wasn’t seeking John’s blessing. He was merely outlining to his friend the formalities of what would happen when he was gone.

“There is a chance you will actually survive this you know.” There was not much conviction behind John’s words, although deep down John still held a glimmer of hope. Oliver was his best friend. John couldn’t entirely give up the hope that maybe this wasn’t the end for his friend. This wasn’t the swan song he wanted for Oliver. Oliver was supposed to be happy with Felicity. John had felt so sure the first time they met Felicity that she and Oliver were meant to be together. It was ironic how someone who brought Oliver so much joy also ended up being the person who yielded the ultimate power to destroy him. 

“I don’t intend to,” came Oliver’s matter of fact response. “I will ensure I take down each and every member of the Legion of Doom. I’ve left my seal for you John. I also commissioned a Green Arrow suit for you. Take care of Starling for me. It’s the one responsibility I felt like I couldn’t abandon but now knowing that you will carry on protecting it for me, I can go in peace.” 

“Oliver……” John didn’t know what else to say. He was about to send his best friend, the man who was like a brother to him, to his own death. 

“I will be able to give my all to destroying the Legion knowing that you’ll be here to protect our people John.” Oliver pulled his friend in for a quick hug before pushing the seal into his hands. 

***

“Your suit is ready,” Ray announced quietly, stepping into the room making very little sound. It was strange to see him so subdue. For once Ray could not see the bright side of things. This hit John harder than he expected. The three of them had been here, in this room many times. Ray with his enthusiasm and energy, Oliver with his no nonsense stoic demeanor and himself who provided a nice balance between the two. It was jarring to be in here with Oliver gone and a severely subdue Ray. 

“I miss him too,” Ray added observing John quietly. “Oliver died a hero. He took down the entire Legion of Doom with him.” 

“It was his last gift to Starling. I’m going to need your help to protect Starling Ray,” John smiled at the other man.

“I found a crossbow Felicity constructed and left behind when I was cleaning out their personal effects from their bunker. She had it in a bag labeled “John” I think it was meant for you.” Ray handed John the weapon, a beautifully constructed masterpiece designed by Felicity that would no doubt make his life easier. He did not have the archery skills Oliver possessed.

“Do you think wherever they are they may have found each other again?” Ray asked after a short silence. There was something almost hopeful in his voice. Ray wanted a happy story for everyone. Sometimes John felt like Ray’s happiness depended on it. He needed to believe that things would always work out.

“I don’t know but I hope Oliver has found peace wherever he is. And we will contribute to that by protecting Starling. It was what he needed most from us.” 

***

**Star City**

Oliver pushed his way thought he crowd, pointedly ignoring all the advances and offers thrown his way. He was feeling slightly buzzed from all the shots he took but not buzzed enough to deal with this. Dammit he was getting immune to all the booze he consumed every night. It was taking more and more to work its magic on him now. He briefly toyed with the idea of moving to something stronger but then he didn’t really want to go down that slippery slope again. The last time he did drugs it wasn’t pretty and he didn’t want his mother on his case again. Plus it was bad for business and Oliver was vaguely afraid that one more f*uck up would mean his mother might pull the plug on Verdant once and for all. His mother was beginning to get this idea (and she wasn’t wrong) that Verdant was a big extravagant toy for Oliver. 

Nah, drugs were a bad idea. Besides Oliver needed to keep his wits about him if he was going to look for the girl with the sad eyes. He had dubbed her as the girl with the sad eyes and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. In that brief second when she clung onto his arm and looked at him with that look, a look that was full of love and longing. No one had looked at him like that before in his life and although he knew that look was intended for someone else, Oliver couldn’t forget her haunted eyes when for one small moment she thought he was her lost love. He had to find her again. For what reason he did not know, but there was a miniscule blossom of hope in his heart that maybe she was exactly what he needed and he could make her smile again. 

“Ollie where are you going?” Tommy stopped him as he reached the door.

“I need a change in atmosphere,” Oliver informed his friend. “I’m sure you can handle the club by yourself for one night.” He clapped Tommy on the back and made his way out when his friend ran after him again.

“Ollie you’ve had a lot of drinks. I don’t think you should take that motorcycle of yours home. You barely know how to ride it. Hail a cab.” Tommy actually looked worried. Since when did his friend become the cautious one in their friendship Oliver wondered?

“Relax Tommy, I feel nothing from those drinks and I know how to ride that bike. Besides the streets are quiet tonight.”

“Ollie you’ve had seven drinks. This is a bad idea.” Tommy was flapping around again with his mother hen routine.

“Tommy I’m touched you care about me buddy but I’m fine,” Oliver waved him off, picking up his pace until he got to his bike. He climbed on it and quickly jammed the helmet on his head, eager to get away from Tommy.

“Where are you even going alone at this time of the night anyway?” Tommy shouted as Oliver revved the engine.

“To find the girl with the sad eyes,” came Oliver’s response as he sped off. 

***

Felicity slipped through the waiting room, past hospital staff swiftly and inconspicuously. She knew Oliver Queen’s family had just left after her phone call with Moira Queen where the Queen Matriarch had informed her calmly that her son was now in a stable condition and that she was perfectly fine to attend their scheduled meeting tomorrow. 

Felicity had protested, assuring Moira that she was more than glad to give the other woman all the time she needed in lieu of her son’s serious motorcycle accident. In a move that would have outraged and terrified Ray further, Moira had informed Felicity that she didn’t see the point in stopping everything because of Oliver Queen’s accident and that if it was alright with Felicity, they should just get on with the business side of things. 

Felicity understood the mentality, hell she was the champion of compartmentalizing and moving on, yet there was something so calm and cold about Moira’s attitude that made Felicity’s heart break for Oliver Queen a little. He had been so kind in the brief interaction she had with him, no matter what mistakes he had made with his life, Felicity believed he was a good person. 

Once again she didn’t know why she was doing this, why she was here, sneaking around trying to see him. Maybe because he had the face of the man she loved and although Felicity knew that Oliver Queen was as far removed from her Oliver as possible, there was a part of her that had found comfort in knowing that her husband’s doppelganger was happy and safe, living his life. He couldn’t be any further from that right now. Glancing around quickly and spotting no one, Felicity entered the door of his private room.

There was a boyish air about Oliver Queen as he lay there on the bed. Felicity gingerly approached the bed before gaining the confidence to pull up a chair beside him. She was here because she had things to say to him and they should be said before someone discovered her sneaking in to see Moira Queen’s son. 

“Hi Oliver, you may not remember me because I was a bit of a mess the last time we ran into each other. I’m the crazy girl from the club who grabbed you. You’re probably wondering why I’m here, if you can even hear me at all. I mean there are conflicting cases about whether coma patients can dream normally or if they are in fact hallucinating. Not that you would be dreaming or hallucinating about me since you don’t even know me. Actually I’m a pretty good authority on coma patients since I ended up on an adventure of a lifetime when I was in my coma. Pretty sure that was just a one off though and it ended in a lot of heartache…” Felicity paused, aware that she was now rambling and just a hair away from launching into her heartbreak, something he didn’t need to know about. The last thing she should be doing was accosting a poor man stuck in a coma to unburden her grief on him.

“I…I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that you ended up here and I hope you survive this. I want you to know that you can fight this; you can beat this coma, because life is precious and always worth living. I know you’re not my Oliver but I feel like there is a strength in you that is greater than you know; just like the strength he had in him. You know he was the leader and protector of an entire city. It was called Starling and he devoted so much of his life to it. He’s the bravest person I know and every day, even when I find it really hard to get up and go on I think of my promise to him. Tell you what, how about we make a deal? You fight this, wake up and live your best life. I’ll also try to let go of what has been and live my best life. We will both channel the strength that Oliver had.”

Felicity got up from her chair, almost leaning over to give him a kiss on the forehead but catching herself in time. Forehead kisses were between Oliver and her. Instead she took Oliver Queen’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Goodbye Oliver. We will likely never cross paths again but I will send you my warmest thoughts.”

*** 

There was a dull ache in his body as Oliver slowly regained consciousness. He didn’t even think he would feel anything once it was over, let alone this rather mundane physical pain. His last memory was the sound of his blade going through Slade and the feeling of relief when he felt Slade’s blade pierce through his body. To think that Deathstroke who had posed a threat to his city and his people for so long was to be the man responsible for unburdening him of his pain.

Oliver didn’t know what to expect after death. Before Felicity he had imagined he’d die protecting Starling one day and that would be it, his job would be done. Someone else would rise up to assume the mantle and Starling would be their burden to bear. 

At the height of his glorious happiness with Felicity he ceased thinking about death altogether. Visions of old age and of happy cherubic children running around the palace had swarmed his thoughts whenever Oliver envisioned his future. Then when Felicity literally vanished Oliver knew he was on borrowed time. That as strong as he was physically, he was incapable of living without her.

Yet here he was, feeling this dull pain that felt so oddly mortal and not at all otherworldly. As his mind cleared a strange sound caught his ears. Instinctively he tried to scramble up, to assume an offensive stance only to find in disbelief that he was in completely unfamiliar surroundings. 

There was a bed. He was on the bed. His body was attached to all sorts of gadgets and next to his bed there was what Felicity would have described as a “machine” in all her descriptions of her world.

Felicity. The thought of Felicity caused him to freeze for a moment. According to Felicity she had woken up like this, in completely strange surroundings, in an entirely different world. But Felicity had only been injured. If there was one thing Oliver was sure of it was that the final blows exchanged between himself and Slade had been fatal. Which didn’t explain why he was here in this place that looked and felt very real.

He yanked the tubes and gadgets from his body, surprised at how much feeling there was given that he should be dead. A loud beeping rang out from the machine and footsteps could be heard as two people came rushing into his room.

One lady was in a light blue outfit, nothing he had ever seen before even from Felicity’s descriptions of the fashion in her world. The other he guessed was a young girl with a boyish haircut, dressed in an outfit that he quickly dismissed as the “fashion” for this world. 

“Ollie you woke up. Oh Ollie you don’t know how relieved I am. It’s been a nightmare the thought of losing you.” The young girl ran up to him and threw her arms around him. She was crying. “What were you thinking yanking out your tubes though Ollie?” she admonished when she had stopped hugging him.

“Mr. Queen, I’m going to get a doctor to come and check on you right away. Can you please sit down on the bed for me and refrain from doing anything else,” the lady in the light blue spoke up in a calm, clear voice, that sounded like it was persuading him to listen to her. 

Oliver glanced from the shorthaired girl to the lady in blue and nodded slowly. Satisfied with his response, the lady in blue left the room.

“Ollie I have to tell Mom. She’s been horrible to live with since your accident. If it weren’t for Walter I would have fallen off the rails completely,” the young girl continued with a sense of closeness and familiarity that was completely foreign to him.

Oliver played back Felicity’s words describing her experience in his mind before he decided to speak. _I was worried that too much protest would land me in your equivalent of a mental institution so I went along with having amnesia and asked as many questions as possible without rambling about my old life._

“I’m afraid I do not know who you are Miss err….” He glanced at the young brunette helplessly, appealing to her for a clue as to her relationship with him.

“Ollie this better not be some kind of a joke. Ollie you know who I am. Now cut it out!” The girl hit his arm affectionately looking equal parts indignant and equal parts worried. 

“Honestly Miss I do not know who you are. My name is Oliver Queen,” he offered. Judging by this girl’s reaction so far and Felicity’s reaction when she found out he was the Emperor, it was best to drop that little detail for now.

“Ollie this is not funny. You admitted to knowing what your name is so quit it with the weird talking and quit pretending you don’t know who I am,” the girl addressed him sharply although she sounded somewhat incredulous.

“I have no recollection of who you are Miss,” Oliver repeated again, trying to look as earnest as possible. Whoever this girl was she seemed to care about him and was likely to be the person who could assist him best in this strange new place. Temporarily gone were his thoughts of death and despair. He needed to find out where he was, who’s life he had inhabited and if there was any version of Felicity in this place. She wouldn’t be his Felicity of course but he would give anything to just see Felicity one more time even if whoever it was, wasn’t his Felicity.

“You…you’re telling the truth aren’t you?” The girl’s face turned pale as she slowly came to the realization that he was not pulling an elaborate prank on her.

“All I remember is that I am Oliver Queen. I really need your help Miss.”

***

“If you need anything Raisa will get it for you,” Moira Queen, the woman who was his mother in this world informed him as she turned to leave the room. He didn’t remember either of his parents. They had died when he was very young. One would think that based on this Oliver would relish in the fact that he had landed in a world where he did have one live parent however there was something about Moira Queen that he felt wary of. He couldn’t explain it except to acknowledge that he felt there were many faces to Moira Queen and he had only been privy to a few of them. There was the one that loved her son. Her first reaction had been one of shock and worry when Oliver calmly informed her he had no memories at all of his life. Still he also detected a hint of disappointment and maybe frustration, which made him curious as to what her relationship with the original Oliver Queen was like.

“And me! I’m here to fill you in on all of your history Ollie,” Thea chimed in happily casting him an over exaggerated fiendish look before continuing, “I can’t promise that I won’t adapt the history a little, just to amuse myself Ollie.”

Thea the sister he couldn’t imagine he would ever have. Oliver trusted Thea. There was a camaraderie there that he couldn’t explain and she obviously loved her brother very much. After Thea got over her shock and disbelief that he really had no memories belonging to her beloved brother Ollie, she took it upon herself to educate him about the life he had assumed.

Ollie as Thea liked to call him was an amoral youth with little ambition and zero responsibility. His one redeeming feature seemed to be that he adored his little sister and from Thea’s descriptions of him he was harmless if not for the complete lack of focus and the indulgent lifestyle he liked to lead. It was clear there was no Felicity Smoak in Ollie Queen’s life.

“I do need your help Speedy. I can’t remember a lot of things so I’m going to need you to teach your big brother all over again.” Oliver took great delight in saying the words “big brother.”

“Ugh I shouldn’t have told you about the nickname Speedy. Could have made it go away forever,” Thea sighed in an exaggerated fashion. “One thing I cannot believe is what a luddite you have become. Seriously Ollie, you forgot to know how to Google? You were never technologically savvy but to forget how to Google is insane even for you.” Thea smacked him playfully in a way that Oliver learned only siblings can. 

*** 

 ** _Felicity Smoak going from strength to strength after recovery from her almost year long coma to join forces on ground breaking project with Moira Queen as Smoak Palmer Technologies and Queens Consolidated work towards finalising deal._**  

Oliver read through the article over and over again. Felicity Smoak. Year long coma. Ivy Town. Smoak Palmer Technologies. This was no coincidence. She was his Felicity. For a brief moment Oliver contemplated the possibility that this was another world where there was a Felicity Smoak who had all the same attributes of his Felicity but wasn’t actually her and quickly dismissed the thought. There was absolutely no chance that her year long coma was a coincidence.

The universe was giving him a second chance. He had felt an unusual sense of peace since waking up in this world, even before he knew this was Felicity’s world. The misery and hopelessness he felt after losing her simply wasn’t there anymore. At first he thought it was because he had directed his energy into assuming this new identity so he could find out about this world’s Felicity Smoak but now he realized his devastation was gone because Felicity wasn’t lost to him anymore. She wasn’t within grasp yet but she was here, living and breathing and so was he. They were in the same orbit and the world was always going to feel right because of that. 

He had to find her. If she still remembered everything he had to find her to spare her the misery she must be feeling, the misery he had felt after losing her. And if she remembered nothing then he had a lot of work to do to win her over once again. 

The thought of Felicity having no recollection of him did not faze Oliver at all. If the universe had sent him here after he volunteered for death, it was going to ensure that they would be together somehow, no matter how much time she needed. But first he had to find her, to see her for himself. He missed Felicity so much. His new found hope in reuniting with Felicity only made his heart ache for her even more. 

“Speedy,” Oliver called as he rushed out of the room searching for Thea. “Speedy, I need your help. Speedy!!!”

“Ollie, what is it? What’s wrong?” Thea appeared almost instantly, looking alarmed. “Ollie are you ok?”

“Better than ok! Nothing is wrong at all but I need your help Speedy! I was Googling like you taught me on that device and I found Felicity. You have to bring me to Felicity. Felicity Smoak, that’s her name here. We were married back in my world and I made her my Empress. We were so happy together but she was in a coma in this world and eventually we discovered she had to wake up in her real body in this world, which made her vanish in my world. I was devastated and went on a suicide mission to destroy the Legion of Doom where I died. For some reason my consciousness must have transferred into your brother’s body. I sincerely apologize for not telling you about myself earlier but Felicity told me one of the ways she survived being stuck in a new world was to observe and resist claiming anything about yourself if it doesn’t fit in with the narrative of the new world.” Oliver paused and smiled a sheepish smile at Thea.

“And now I’m rambling just like Felicity would in this situation. You’ve got to believe me Thea. You’ve got to help me find Felicity. It says here she’s involved in a potential partnership with Queens Consolidated. That means you guys must know where she is and can take me to her. Please take me to her.”

Oliver was about to plead again when the unsettled look on Thea’s face stopped him.

“Ollie,” Thea said in a soothing tone, one designed to placate someone unstable. “Ollie you had a very serious accident that involved head injuries. Let’s just calm down for a bit. Are you sure you know Felicity Smoak? She’s very pretty and maybe she just reminds you of one of your previous conquests.”

“She was my wife for almost one blissful year. The love of my life. I could never forget Felicity. Please Thea I know it sounds insane but you have to take me to her. If she remembers she can explain it all to you and you’ll know I’m telling the truth and this is not some madness speaking. You know how to drive a car. Can you take me to Ivy Town. Ivy Town is where Felicity lives. Please Thea I NEED to see my wife again.” His tone was pleading and Oliver was one step away from begging Thea for her help. 

“Ollie, I’ve no doubt that you believe you’re married to Felicity Smoak but according to Mom that is the most important deal for QC this year. I ignore everything about the company but I didn’t miss that detail. You cannot go around declaring Felicity Smoak is your wife. Especially not when mom is around.” Thea was looking very worried by now as she pondered how she was going to handle this. On one hand she had Ollie who was raving like a lunatic, emphatically declaring Felicity Smoak to be his lost love. On the other Thea knew their mother was not going to take kindly to Ollie running around declaring the CEO of Smoak Palmer Technologies to be his long lost love. Although their mom hadn’t said anything, Thea knew Moira considered Ollie’s accident as another black mark against him, to be add to an already long list of screw ups.

Ollie did look so happy in his madness though. Thea had never seen his eyes light up like that when talking about anyone. For all of his insanity, there was a lot of love there. It was possibly the first time Ollie had truly loved a girl, too bad it was brought on by brain damage and wasn’t real.

“Speedy you have to help me. And if you won’t help me I will find Felicity myself. I died and came back to life to be with her again. Mere distance is not going to stop me from finding her.” Oliver meant what he said, his brain already formulating a plan of what to do should Thea refuse to help him. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t believe him; it would sound like a crazy story to anyone. For a moment he regretted telling Thea everything.

“Ollie you need to stop saying things like that,” Thea informed him calmly. “Come on, you go to sleep and see if you feel the same way when you wake up.” She gave him a nudge in the direction towards his room.

“Speedy I know it sounds bad but I am not crazy. If I can just find Felicity everything will work itself out.”

“Of course you’re not crazy darling,” Moira suddenly materialized out of nowhere and stood next to him. Oliver wondered how much she had heard. She didn’t give him a chance to speak, only reaching to place a hand gently on his back before continuing. “I’m due for a meeting with Felicity tomorrow and we can both go see her together. How does that sound?” Moira smiled at him but Oliver noticed her smile did not reach her eyes. Before he could act he felt a sharp prick in his skin and suddenly there was nothing but darkness.

***

The first thing Oliver noticed was that his surroundings had changed. In contrast to the sleek, modern looking bachelor pad at Queen Manor this room had a homey almost peasant feel to it. For a split second Oliver feared that he had somehow been transported back to his old world until he recalled the look on Moira’s face right before he blacked out. 

Mother or not there was something wrong with that woman. She had obviously done something to him and now here he was in strange surroundings. Well stranger surroundings. Queen Manor was still unfamiliar and did not feel like home although to be fair, home didn’t feel like home either after he lost Felicity. Which was why he needed to find her again and if Moira Queen thought drugging him and hiding him some place was going to stop him she was wrong. He managed to get himself to Felicity’s world against all odds. No hardened woman was going to keep him away from her.

Oliver went to the door and grabbed the doorknob. As suspected the door was locked. So Moira genuinely thought all that was going to keep him in was a locked door. He supposed it would have kept Ollie in. Letting out a chuckle Oliver survey his surroundings. He appeared to be on the second floor of a house. There was a small window in his room leading outside.

Oliver contemplated leaping down from the window but decided against it. He might as well get his bearings on the rest of the house and send Moira a message at the same time. In one swift motion he kicked the door open and strolled out only to double back in shock at the sight that greeted him.

John Diggle. Dressed in a black suit and looking every bit the regal advisor that he was in Oliver’s world. John surveyed him with a surprised expression before quickly coming to his wits and used his body to block Oliver.

“Mr. Queen, I’ve been hired by Mrs. Queen to protect you for the time being. Now why don’t you make things easy on the both of us and return to your room until your mother is back to visit you in a few days.” John’s voice was smooth and soothing, full of courtesy but leaving no doubt that his words were to be obeyed. Clearly in this world his friend was also a force to be reckoned with.

“John, I don’t want to argue with you but you need to let me pass,” Oliver replied calmly. “There has been a misunderstanding and Moira…my mother has over reacted. I will not be staying here.”

“You know my name,” John looked at him in surprise before re gathering his mettle. “I’m afraid you cannot leave here Mr. Queen. I am under strict instructions to watch out for your well being.”

“John Diggle. You were my best friend in my world and I respected you greatly. I do not wish to fight you John. I just want to leave and find the girl that I love. Your other self would approve. You loved Felicity.”

The alarmed look that crossed John’s face signaled to Oliver that he had gone too far and the man like everyone else clearly thought he was crazy.

“Come on Mr. Queen, let’s stop this talk of finding Felicity Smoak. You can explain it all to your mother when you see her.” John was clearly immovable in his willingness to do his job and do it properly. Oliver hadn’t wanted to spar with his friend but clearly it was beginning to look like there was no other way. 

“That woman is responsible for drugging me and trying to hold me captive here with you. She probably thinks I’m insane and will not let me see the world again if I keep bringing up Felicity.” He gave John an apologetic look, “I’m sorry John. I don’t want to do this but I have to find Felicity.”

Without further warning Oliver went on the offensive. John gave as good as he got but clearly hand to hand combat was not his forte and it took Oliver no time at all to have him in a neat hold, removing the other man’s gun in the process. It was the first time Oliver had seen a gun but he had heard about them plenty from Felicity to know to check for one, especially on a hired guard like John.

“You…you know how to fight?” the other man questioned, looking completely shell shocked. The hold did not seem to bother John rather than the person who had managed to lock him in the hold. “I prepared a dossier on you before I agreed to take this job. You, Oliver Jonas Queen have been in a few drunken brawls of which you did not fare well. You are not a trained fighter.”

Poor John looked so completely out of sorts Oliver let go of him, the taller man dropping himself to the ground, making no attempts to stand up. “I keep telling everyone I am not who you think I am. I wish people would just leave me alone to find Felicity.” 

“You…you’re not Oliver Queen.” Although John addressed Oliver it clearly sounded like he was trying to explain things to himself. If he was anything like the brother in arms Oliver knew and loved back in his world, he was probably trying to think of the most logical explanation to make sense of things.

“I’m not the Oliver Queen everyone knows. Come with me” Oliver urged holding out a hand to pull a still dazed looking John Diggle to his feet. “I will explain everything to you. It might not make things anymore believable but it is the truth.” 

“Where are you taking me?” John asked suspiciously. 

“I was hoping you’d lead me to where I can find some knives since you obviously know this place better than I do,” Oliver responded casually, deriving a tiny amount of wicked satisfaction in rattling John Diggle a bit more with his theatrics. “I will demonstrate some skills which will make my story more believable to you.” 

***

“You really are not Oliver Queen,” John Diggle muttered again in disbelief. It was slowly starting to sink in for him that everything Oliver was telling him was the truth. The entire ridiculous tale involving alternate universes, Felicity Smoak and their love story, Oliver being the heartbroken Emperor who went on a suicide mission, passing on the mantle and throne to his best friend, alternative world John Diggle only to find himself alive again in another body belonging to Oliver Queen.

The story should and did sound absurd, the fantasies of a madman really but John believed every word. How could he not as he watch Oliver Queen throw a knife which caught and pinned a raisin to the wall. Clearly these were skills that Moira Queen’s spoilt son was not supposed to have. 

John had thought Oliver quite mad (not to mention potentially dangerous) when the latter grabbed a handful of knives and a pack of raisins he found in the cupboard, instructing John to throw the raisins into the air. Noting their earlier scuffle and arriving at the conclusion that he couldn’t beat Oliver in a fist fight or even if he had his weapon, John obediently threw a handful of raisins into the air because what else could he do. 

This Oliver Queen, or whoever he was proved to be quite a showy with plenty of dramatic flair as he threw his knives, catching and pinning every single one of the five raisins that John tossed into the air

“You do realize that you’ve left five knives stuck into the walls of your mother’s country house right?” John asked after he had recovered from Oliver’s blatant showing off.

“It’s debatable whether that terrible woman is my mother and it serves her right for drugging me and locking me up here,” Oliver shrugged.

“If you are from an alternate ancient world like you keep claiming, why do you know so much about everything?” John asked no longer looking suspicious but genuinely curious. 

“Felicity loved to babble about where she came from. I built a place called the Bunker for us and while we worked side by side she used to spend hours telling me about anything and everything that came into her head. I loved listening to her voice and hung onto every word. I’m just as surprised as you are in terms of how much I understood and retained. Felicity was not the easiest person to follow at times. Her mind works a lot faster than mere mortals.” His face lit up again as he thought of Felicity. He had no time to lose. He really needed to find her and yet he felt slightly more at ease now that John, even if he wasn’t his John, seemed to believe him.

“When Moira Queen gave me instructions to keep you away from Felicity Smoak under any circumstances I gathered information on her as well. She certainly is every bit the genius you say she is. She must have gone crazy in your world without all the technology. She’s quite the technology whizz kid.” It was amazing how some things did not change. This John looked every bit as impressed with Felicity as his John had been.

“She did miss it. The technology. But she was happy and would have stayed with me if the decision had been left to her. She was willing to do anything to stay but in the end it was out of both our hands,” Oliver said wistfully.

“Well let’s go reunite you with your lost love again,” John stately plainly as if he had just offered to go buy Oliver some bread.

“You mean it? You want to help me find her?” Oliver asked looking a little taken back. He had assumed John accepted his story and was no longer going to stand in his way. He didn’t expect the man to actively offer to help him find Felicity.

“Well considering Moira took your phone, refused to tell your sister where she took you, locked you in a country house with a body guard I’m going to assume you’ll want me to drive you to Ivy Town and buy you food along the way,” John smiled at him.

“You are a good man in every universe John Diggle,” Oliver beamed at his new _found-again_ friend.

***

The house looked exactly as Felicity had described it. There was a lush, even green lawn, a row of roses and even a white picket fence. Oliver gazed at the roof in fascination, almost gaping at it. This was the roof that Felicity had tried to climb that fateful night. He was here, in her world and he was about to see her again. There would be no more dreams, no more nightmares, no more endless bargaining and begging the universe to let him see Felicity one more time. She was just on the other side of the door.

Deciding he had observed Felicity’s place of residence for long enough, Oliver sprinted to the front door and rang the doorbell. No one answered. He rang the doorbell several more times. Still no answer. Panicking he began to bang on the door. Felicity lived here; Oliver was sure she did. The place was exactly as she described it. And yet she wasn’t here.

John noticing how distraught he was took a step towards him. “It’s Saturday here Oliver. People go out and run errands on a Saturday. Maybe she’s just not home. Why don’t we drive around and find somewhere to eat. We’ll come back in a few hours and she’ll probably be home by then.” 

“No,” Oliver shook his head, looking equal parts stubborn and dejected at the same time. “You can go and eat. I’m going to sit here and wait until I see Felicity.” 

“I’ll wait with you then,” John informed him calmly and together they sat outside on Felicity’s doorstep.

**

Felicity pulled her red mini neatly into the driveway and quickly began to gather her groceries. Not that they could even be called groceries she observed as she gather the bags full of mint chip and rocky road ice cream, flour, sugar, eggs, butter and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

This was progress she reasoned to herself. She was at least eating dinner. Cookies and ice cream counted as dinner and considering she had had no appetite for months now the fact that she wanted ice cream and cookies was a huge improvement. Felicity made a mental note to accept the next time Ray called her out to dinner, which was likely to be tomorrow. Ray had not let up and without fail called every second day. Felicity was running out of excuses and as her duties of playing hostess to Moira Queen in Ivy Town were over, she didn’t have anymore plausible reasons to turn Ray and Zari down without telling them her story. 

Picking up her grocery bags, Felicity closed the car door with her knee and walked towards her front door. She wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her. Sitting on her doorstep looking anxious was Oliver Queen and beside him was none other than John Diggle. Felicity came to an abrupt halt upon spotting them, her grocery bags slipping out of her arms, the contents spilling out as soon as the bags hit the ground.

Oliver Queen and John Diggle were sitting side by side on her doorstep. Not her Oliver. No he couldn’t be her Oliver. Her Oliver was in another world, another place, somewhere she could no longer reach. Felicity had heard the news of Oliver Queen regaining consciousness and had quietly felt happy for him and his family. She pushed aside any thoughts of their encounters vowing never to approach him again. And yet here he was on her doorstep, seemingly also knowing a John Diggle in this life. God the universe played cruel jokes.

“Mr. Queen…” Felicity murmured backing away, not daring to have any eye contact with him. She was doing so much better but she was only human and her broken heart drew the line at seeing the doppelganger of the man she loved over and over again.

Oliver ran towards her and grabbed her hands, kissing them softly as he spoke, “Felicity. It’s me Felicity. Your Oliver. We got a second chance and somehow I found myself here in your world. I couldn’t believe it at first either but it’s really me Felicity. We don’t have to miss each other anymore.”

“It can’t be,” Felicity whispered, not daring to believe him. “You can’t really be my Oliver. Mr. Queen please don’t be cruel….” she turned and looked away again. 

Gently Oliver reached out a hand and cupped her cheek, turning her face ever so tenderly so that she would look at him. “You look just as beautiful in your sleeveless dress but do you miss all the giant sleeves with pockets for storage Felicity?”

That was all it took. Felicity let out a whimper as she melted into his arms, kissing him fervently. Oliver kissed her back, savoring every single moment that he thought he would never have again, only pausing when he heard Felicity crying.

“Shh honey, I’m here. We found each other again. This is everything we’ve ever wanted. Don’t cry Felicity.” 

Felicity sobbed quietly into his chest, her words slightly muffled, “If this is another coma Oliver I refuse to wake up from it. I can’t, I won’t lose you again. I barely survived it the first time Oliver, I can’t do it again. I’m never going to wake up.”

“It’s not a coma Felicity. We are both really here. This time nothing can separate us. Nothing,” Oliver whispered firmly wiping her tears away with his sleeve before kissing her again.

They didn’t know how long they held onto each other until they heard a throat clear. Jolting back to reality from their temporary enchantment they both gazed at John Diggle sheepishly. 

“I...err…any chance you’re our John Diggle?” Felicity asked, feeling slightly foolish for even asking the question. 

“Nope I’m afraid not. Only met him formally a few days ago,” John gestured towards Oliver with a smile on his face. “I was hired by Moira Queen who thinks this one is her crazy son and told me to guard him and keep him away from you.”

“And yet you helped bring him to me,” Felicity smiled. Her arms were still wrapped around Oliver’s waist. She was never letting go.

“Well he demonstrated some out-of-this-world ninja moves, proving he couldn’t possibly be the actual Oliver Queen. He was hell-bent on finding you so I decided to come along with him just to make sure you were ok, on the off chance that you had no idea who he was.”

“So that’s why you offered to drive me and wait with me.” Recognition dawned on Oliver’s face. John Diggle looked out for Felicity in every universe.

“Well I had to make sure you weren’t as crazy as Moira thought you were,” John replied looking nonplussed. “I’m not one to stand in the way of true love but I wasn’t going to facilitate stalking and harassment either.”

“Thank you for bringing him to me,” Felicity beamed at him and held out a hand, which John took and shook happily. 

“I’m going to leave you kids to it. I have no desire to be a third wheel of a reunion that spans across two universes,” John informed them with a straight face. “I assume you will handle Moira Queen yourselves?”

“Will we see you again John?” Oliver asked hopefully. There would never be anyone like his own John Diggle but there was something equally honorable and decent about this man. Oliver found himself wanting to call this John his friend. 

“I’ll be back to see you kids when you’ve settled into your reunion. I wouldn’t mind learning a few moves from you Oliver.” There was something about the way he looked at them, how despite not knowing them he was obviously invested in their love story that made Felicity let go of Oliver to give John a big hug. 

“You are our biggest cheerleader in every universe John Diggle,” she declared emphatically much to John’s amusement.

***

“You died,” Felicity said softly, hear head on his chest listening to his even heartbeats. Oliver pulled her closer even though she was practically lying on top of him. Despite feeling confident that this time they wouldn’t lose each other again, they both needed the physical closeness. Oliver didn’t think he could ever physically let go of her.

“You took on the Legion of Doom by yourself and you died all alone.” Even though she was lying in his arms, Felicity couldn’t stop her tears forming as she thought of him dying alone, sacrificing one last time because he had nothing to live for. 

“It was never going to end well for me after you vanished,” Oliver said gently. “There was only one way it could end after you were gone. Don’t cry Felicity. I didn’t really die. I still don’t know how or why it happened but we got our second chance. We’re going to grow old together just like we’ve always wanted.” He kissed her shoulder, marveling at how soft it was and how much he missed feeling her like this.

Suddenly Felicity tilted her head to look up at him and smiled a mischievous smile. “Moira Queen’s mind is going to be blown when she finds out I’m shacking up with her crazy son. I still can’t believe she drugged you. Ray’s feelings of terror towards her are going to morph into righteous indignation after I tell him about this. He might even agree to take a meeting with her.”

“Same old Ray in this world?” Oliver asked looking amused.

“Yup same old Ray! Although do not bring up Anna in front of him when you do get to know him again. There’s a story there but no time to tell you right now.” 

“That awful Moira Queen is going to think you’ve lost your mind when we tell her we’re a couple,” Oliver made a face as he brought up the topic of Moira again. “We’re going to have to think of a story for her. It will need to be a convincing one judging by her character.” 

“We could tell her you and I met at Verdant one night and your memories got a bit scrambled. I didn’t know who you were on that night but you found me again and we reconnected,” Felicity offered not looking like she was convinced with the story herself. 

“You think she’ll believe that?” Oliver asked looking a little doubtful. 

“Well it beats the crossing universes story,” Felicity chuckled. “Or you could just sit her down and do another demonstration with the knives.”

“I can even hit flies,” Oliver mused.

“I know, I’ve seen it,” Felicity nodded earnestly looking impressed as she squeezed his biceps. 

Suddenly the mood shifted and Felicity looked solemn. Noticing the change in her demeanor Oliver rubbed her back gently before asking her what was wrong. “Talk to me. What is that big brain thinking about?” 

“I…I met Oliver Queen you know. The one from this world. I…I wasn’t coping and so I went to find him. I don’t know why I did it and I felt ashamed of myself when I did find him. We spoke for a few minutes and he struck me as being very kind, no matter what the press said about him.”

“He must have known you were special. I bet he could feel it.” Oliver’s voice was gentle as he continued to draw circles on her back, finding so much joy in the simple act of touching her skin. 

“After he had the accident I snuck in to visit him in the hospital…” Felicity’s voice trailed off, her face looking pensive. “I hope it wasn’t the end for him. I hope wherever he is, he’s ok.” 

“I have in the past wondered what happened to the Felicity who fell off the roof in my world,” Oliver admitted looking thoughtful.

“Maybe they will find each other. Maybe they were thrown to some other place; some different dimension and they will find each other there. I hope they find each other because finding you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. When I lost you Felicity, I had this void inside me that would not go away.” 

Felicity rolled on top of him and held his face in her hands, nuzzling his nose with hers. “You will never lose me ever again Oliver. Not just for your sake but for mine. I love you so much.” 

“I love you Felicity,” Oliver kissed her, a deep long kiss before pulling back to take another look at the adorable expressive face he had missed so much. Then he kissed her again and again and again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that! Hehe told you I would fix it =P
> 
> I have this long winded theory as to where the other Olicity ended up at. Obviously they end up in the same place and I have a meet cute planned for them but it would REALLY require you guys to suspend disbelief so I'm not sure if I should bother writing it! 
> 
> ***
> 
> SHAMELESS PLUG
> 
> If you enjoyed this Chinese series inspired story please do check out my other story Palace! This is a story I try to hock endlessly like a used car salesman =P
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/11729529/chapters/26427426


	5. Bonus Chapter - The Other Olicity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!
> 
> Your lovely comments in the last chapter and your enthusiasm for finding out about what happened to the other Olicity prompted me to add this extra chapter as a thank you for reading this crazy story of mine. I hope you guys like it as it is a bit trippy but most of all I hope its addition has not ruined the main story for you!

“Hello, how are you feeling?” the smiling face framed by blonde curls is peering at him with a curious yet cheery expression. Oliver slowly tries to focus his eyes; blinking a few times to sharpen his vision and get his bearings. Someone must have put something in his drink. He felt like he’d been knocked out for days. He wondered where he was and what he’d done now. He hoped he hadn’t caused too much of a scandal and could make it out of this girl’s place without any trouble. The last thing he wanted was for his mother to hear about this. Most likely in his drunken haze he’d picked up some girl.

Oliver shuts his eyes tightly before opening them again to face whatever consequence was waiting for him. He lets out an audible gasp as suddenly his memories of the other night come flooding back. The girl with the sad eyes. He zoomed off on his bike to find the girl with the sad eyes. And by the looks of it he found her, for standing in front of him was the girl with the sad eyes. Only her eyes weren’t sad. They were inquisitive, slightly concerned looking and most of all he noticed that they were bright and full of sparkle. What on earth had happened between him and the girl with the sad eyes that were no longer sad?

“You…you’re the girl with the sad eyes…but you don’t look sad anymore…” Oliver finally speaks, startled that his tone sounds somewhat accusing.

The girl, who he notices is wearing a very short denim skirt showing off a pair of supple toned legs and a lacy camisole lets out a sympathetic sigh before laying a cool hand on his cheek and patting it gently. “Oh dear, did you meet a version of me in your other life before you died? I gather you must have from your reaction. I’ve never seen you before in my life but when you appeared in my back yard as if a stork brought you I figured we must be connected in some way. We’ve never crossed paths in my old life and from my observation of you it seems that you come from a much more modern world than I did. I wonder how you and I are connected? It seems this place is a dumping ground for lost souls who have been displaced after an unfortunate event. Tell me what kind of accident were you in before you got here? Do you remember much about it? Most importantly I must know your name so I can help you. Set up IDs and all that. You’re very fortunate to land in my backyard you know after I have it all figured out. I had help too when I landed here but it was a bit trickier. So if you tell me your name and who you would like to be, I can set you up with any identity you like.” 

She smiles at him expectantly after rattling off her alarming speech; clearly waiting for him to provide her with the details she was waiting on.

“Excuse me?” Oliver declares before scrambling to sit up. He was in a white T-shirt and grey sweat pants. He took a quick glance at the bed he’d been sleeping on. It was adorned with purple and pink polka dot bed linen. Plush stuffed pandas of all shapes and sizes were stacked neatly along the bedhead. He let out a relieved breath he didn’t know he was holding. Surely nothing had happened between him and this fruit loop, at least not with all those plush pandas lying around. They would be strewn all over the floor if he’d taken her for a romp in bed. He glanced down at his clothes again.

“I didn’t do anything to you if that’s what you’re worried about,” she informs him cheerfully. “If you have any virtue left I can assure you it is 100% in tact. I have never been intimate myself and you’re a stranger so rest assured I did not try to seduce you.”

“You…you’re crazy!” Oliver shoots her alarmed look.

“No, Felicity Smoak actually,” she informs him calmly and Oliver couldn’t help but feel impressed by how she was the perfect combination of unflappable and charming at the same time. He rubbed his temple. No. He was not supposed to find her charming. Somehow the girl with the sad eyes, or this Felicity Smoak was not who he thought she was. He must have found her and then she lured him in and drugged him somehow. That sob story about the lost love who looked like him was obviously a ruse, a ploy to trick him. For a brief moment Oliver’s blood ran cold. What had she done to him? What was she setting him up for?

“Felicity Smoak or whoever you really are, I don’t have time for this. I don’t know how I ended up here but if you try anything let me warn you now that my mother is not a woman who takes kindly to blackmail or attacks on the family name.” He moves away from her towards the door and is surprised to see her looking at him wistfully, as if she felt sorry for him.

“I know this sounds really insane, believe me I thought it was crazy too but you will need to learn to trust me. As much as you resist I will be here to help you. I do believe it is a sign you landed here in my back yard. By all means take as much time as you need to come to terms with this." 

“I want to get out of here, away from you. WHERE IS MY STUFF?” Oliver shouts at her. He regrets it at once when she jumps and inches backwards away from him, eyes as wide as two blue saucers. Despite everything, all the absurdity, there was something innocent and childlike about her that makes him feel bad for raising his voice at her. Maybe she really was mourning her lost love and was simply unwell. 

Felicity closes her eyes for a few seconds as if to re-gather herself. When she speaks to him again, her voice is steady, albeit tentative. “I suspected you wouldn’t believe me so I took the liberty of preparing for this. Beside the bed you will find a duffle bag with some clothes in it. I have tried my best to guess your size. There is also a phone and charger and a wallet full of money. I do not know what the currency is like in your world or what technology you have but you should find this sufficient. If after you leave here and find out that I am indeed telling the truth please do not hesitate to call me. My number is programmed into the phone I have given you.”

Oliver glances down and sees the duffle bag Felicity is talking about. He grabs it and rummages through the contents, finding that it contained everything she had described. Whoever she is, whatever she was suffering from, this Felicity Smoak was truly sold on the story of coming from another world. Oliver found himself feeling convinced she honestly believed this. Although he was eager to get away, Oliver made a mental note to drop back and check up on her. Maybe get her some help. There was something inherently lovely and innocent about her, he almost didn’t want to leave her alone, living out these delusions all by herself. He glances around at the beautifully furnished room, his eyes settling on the big windows, which led to a view outside of an immaculate yard. Felicity Smoak may not be in her right mind but it appeared she was doing quite well for herself if he were to judge by her living situation.

“Good luck. You will see that I am speaking the truth. If you decide you can navigate this world on your own then I wish you all the best.” She smiles softly at him and offers him a small smooth hand, having forgiven him for shouting at her a few minutes ago. 

Oliver notices her nails are painted a soft dusty pink and against his better judgment he reaches out and takes the small hand that feels so warm and soft to the touch. “Oliver Queen,” he tells her gruffly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “My name is Oliver Queen.” 

*** 

“Don’t I at least get a phone call? That’s my right! You can’t use the different world excuse on me to rob me of my rights,” the trouble maker (or Oliver Queen as he insisted on being called) yells, waving his arms around at Detective Lance, as the long suffering older man gently shoves him behind bars, before locking the door. Detective Lance didn’t have the heart to be rough with him. Poor guy obviously had issues. He seemed to have no idea who he was or who anyone else was.

They had picked him up via a call during one of their routine patrols (crime in Starling was ridiculously low so there had been no cases to investigate lately, which meant they all pitched in for general patrol). Detective Lance suspected he was under the influence of some sort. Dr. Thomas Merlyn, Starling’s well respected pediatrician had called for help alleging that this fellow, this Oliver Queen was causing a scene at his clinic, claiming at Dr. Merlyn was his best friend and then refusing to leave when the latter insisted he had no idea who he was and that they’d never met before. 

Detective Lance had arrived to find a harmless but overly excited Oliver Queen ranting about how Dr Merlyn should stop pretending to be a doctor, making several mentions of some nightclub called Verdant, putting on quite a show for the parents and their children who were waiting for a consult.

When he first laid eyes on Detective Lance, Oliver had briefly looked like he wanted to claim to know the good detective as well but thought the better of it.

“You stay here for the night kid and calm down. I can’t find you on the system but we’ll soon work out who you really are. Now stop shouting and someone will be down here shortly to bring you some food,” Detective Lance says kindly. Truth be told he felt a bit sorry for the poor kid. To be so young and suffer to the point where his mind was gone. He was reasonably well dressed and a search of his personal items revealed a large amount of cash and an expensive model of the latest phone. Detective Lance wondered sadly how a young man like him could end up in this situation. 

“Please let me call Felicity! She told me I landed in another world and I didn’t believe her but I’m starting to think that she was telling the truth. Let me call Felicity! I’m allowed a phone call! Felicity will explain everything to you,” Oliver shouts again, rattling the bars of his cell.

“Goodness sakes stop making such a ruckus kid. Go to sleep and I’ll let you go tomorrow. It gets cool in Starling at night. You don’t want to sleep out on the streets trust me.” Shaking his head sadly Detective Lance walks off.

***

It was Detective Lance’s every intent to lock this fellow up for one night, just to make sure he had somewhere to sleep and then release him tomorrow with several warnings not to go disturbing Dr Merlyn again. That was until the incredibly bright and bubbly Felicity Smoak walked into the precinct. 

“Your cousin? That man in there is your cousin?” Detective Lance asks the young girl in front of him dubiously.

“Yes sir indeed he is,” she informs him far too cheerfully for someone who had the responsibility of dealing with a troublemaker. “You can look it up if you don’t believe me sir. Here are my details. He was released into my custody after the accident. Terrible tragedy. His family didn’t want anything to do with him afterwards. Said he caused too much trouble. Poor thing he was never the same again after the accident. It’s like his mind is somewhere else completely. He honestly thinks he’s someone from another life.” 

Felicity’s face falls a little. “We’ve always been very close and loved to spend time together. After the accident he became a different person and was convinced that I was a different person. He doesn’t even remember me.”

“Oh he remembers you sweetheart. He was shouting for me to call you when I locked him up.” Detective Lance types in his search and sure enough there it was. Oliver Queen, born 1985 was under the care and guardianship of Ms. Felicity Smoak after a serious accident in Opal City. It seemed they relocated to Starling after his accident and had stayed here ever since. For a brief moment Detective Lance felt incredibly sorry for the young girl in front of him wondering how on earth she had been saddled with this responsibility. Where was his family? 

“We’re cousins,” she reassures him again as if reading his mind. “We grew up together and have very similar circumstances. I don’t mind taking care of him.”

“You need some help sweetheart? Want me to connect you with some services?” Detective Lance found himself desperately wanting to help the poor kid who was a baby herself and didn’t look a day older than twenty.

“Thank you for your kindness Detective but if you could just release him to me that would be great. I am very fortunate to have good friends who help me out. And I’ve managed to hold a decent paying job so financially we are more than all right. I’d hate to take away from resources that could be better spent on people who are more in need than I am.” She gives him a bright reassuring smile and Detective Lance finds himself almost wanting to hug this plucky sweet girl.

“If you lose him again and I find him I’ll ring you up instead of locking him up.” 

“That would be great although hopefully he won’t wander off again. This is his first time and something tells me it will likely be his last.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she said this. Detective Lance simply rubbed his head, confused at her words and her expression.

*** 

“Soo…..what world were you from?” Oliver sinks back on the very soft, too soft couch and pushes what looks like curdled scrambled eggs around his plate. He prods at the food suspiciously and moves the over fried bacon out of the way. After examining the contents of his plate he decides to settle on taking a bite of the toast, which looked and tasted fine. Felicity Smoak, aka _The Girl With the Sparkling Non Sad Eyes_ was a busy woman who did not have time to cook or know much about cooking it seemed. She was too busy saving strange men who appeared in her backyard. 

“Ancient one. I lived in a place also called Starling but instead of trusty Detective Lance and the SCPD we had The Green Arrow who was our Emperor and savior. My Starling was very peaceful despite being under attack frequently by bad guys. The Emperor or Green Arrow as he was also known kept us safe. You know it was one of my life’s ambitions to get a glimpse of the Green Arrow but I never did. Well that and to avoid marriage. Anyhow everything became moot when I fell off a roof and ended up here.”

“You speak fairly normally for someone who comes from an ancient world,” Oliver smiles at her, appreciating how lovely she looked in her simple grey pajama pants and purple singlet top. Now that he was getting to know her, really getting to know her without questioning her intentions Oliver found there was a lot to like about Felicity Smoak. He may have been intrigued with the girl with the sad eyes in his world, but this one was something else altogether. There was a child like naivety about her coupled with this laser-focused competence that he found absolutely fascinating. No one had ever fascinated Oliver before. 

“Oh this is me a year later. You should have seen me when I first landed here. I must have seemed even crazier than you at the police station. You at least speak normally.” Felicity smiles at him and then turns to her plate, he face falling as she glances at its contents. Oliver makes a mental note to offer to cook her something else a bit later. 

“So how did you adapt? I mean how did you end up with all this if you landed here with no ties to this world,” Oliver gestures at his surroundings. “I was lucky to be found in your backyard and you took me in no questions asked. You already guessed where I came from. What about you? I want to know what happened to you when you ended up here. You mentioned that you think this is a world for lost souls right?” 

Felicity gives her dinner plate one last sad look before wrinkling her nose and placing it on the coffee table in front of her. Dinner was not a success. Oliver was being rather sweet about it, trying to take a bite of everything so as to not hurt her feelings and she was enjoying his company but the actual food was inedible as it usually was. She lets out a sigh and rubbs her tummy before answering Oliver. 

“Based on my anecdotal research and looking up people who I knew in my old world, I am guessing this world is a place for lost souls. So if you are from another place and you were involved in an accident where you may or may not survive, you get transported to this place. I have no idea what happens back home, whether you and I are both dead in our respective words but something about our accidents caused us to be here. The good news is I have learned a few skills in my time here!” 

Felicity leans forward and flashes him an adorably conspicuous look of one trying to be discreetly sneaky but failing dismally. “I can hack things! I learned to hack a few months in and I’m very good at it. So you Oliver can choose to be whoever you want to be and I will create a new identity for you. Anything you like! Any career you want.” She pauses for a second before adding, “Although you would actually need to be good at whatever you chose. I’m not going to give you fake medical qualifications or that sort of thing.” 

It was a lot to take in, to chose his new life. He also didn’t want to admit to Felicity that he was a loser in his old life and had no actual skills or qualifications to do anything. So Oliver steers the subject away from himself for a moment. 

“We can discuss me later. I need some time to think. It’s really overwhelming to suddenly have to pick a new life for myself. Besides I really want to know more about you and how you ended up building all of this.” Oliver gestures at his surroundings once again. It was incredible to think that this amazing woman who had come from a place where education for girls was frowned upon could take it all in her stride and achieve all this for herself. Everything Oliver had in his old life came from his mother. He couldn’t fathom how Felicity could accumulate all this in a year. 

“I had help,” Felicity admits, shifting around in her seat. “I…erm…landed in an interesting place with some friends who do a lot of classified work. I…um can’t really tell you about that because it’s not my place to tell you about my friends’ lives. But let’s just say they got me on my feet and in this place I discovered computers and hacking. The rest is history.” She pauses for a moment and blushes a charming shade of pink before adding, “My brain, which always seemed to cause me endless grief in my world is very useful here. I have been able to use it to make a lot of money.” 

“I didn’t want to be blunt and ask but how do you afford all this. And all that cash you gave me,” Oliver asks curiously.

“There is this place called Las Vegas…” Felicity begins slowly, giving him a look like a child who has been found with her hand in the cookie jar. 

“Vegas? You make your money from Vegas? There is a place called Vegas where I come from too. A girl like you shouldn’t be anywhere near Vegas Felicity.” A surge of overprotectiveness flows through Oliver’s veins as he suddenly recalls Felicity telling him she has never even been intimate before. She shouldn’t be anywhere near Vegas if this Vegas is anything like the Vegas at home. 

“Oh do not do the knight in shining armour thing with me,” Felicity waves him off and wrinkles her nose at him. “I told you my brain works well for me here didn’t I? In my old world people only cared about my looks but in this world I have found that I can do a great deal with my brain.”

“So how do you make money with your brain in Vegas?” Oliver asks, still looking worried.

“Casinos are a great invention in this world,” Felicity declares happily. “And when I play it is not a game of chance. I am very careful. A little here, a little there. A different look and identity each time. Lots of trips to lots of different casinos and I was able to earn enough money to buy this house. Would you like a residence? I was thinking I would like to travel a bit. I will go to Macau and earn you an apartment if you like?” She smiles brightly at him and Oliver knows Felicity is serious. This sweet, innocent girl who is just too pure for this world was offering to be his saviour, his handsome prince for lack of a better description. Oliver didn’t quite know how to take this. 

“Felicity Smoak you are remarkable,” he says beaming at her. 

“Thank you for remarking on it,” Felicity smiles back at him.

Oliver’s tone grows serious when he speaks again. He had been given a second chance and he really wanted to make use of this fresh start, to make something of himself in this world and be a productive member of society. Felicity had effectively offered to bail him out just like his mother did. He didn’t want that. Not from her. He wanted to get to know her more and to be her friend but he also wanted to be worthy of her in this new life. 

“I don’t need an apartment Felicity and I don’t think it’s your responsibility to provide me with one. If you don’t mind I would like a place to stay while I figure things out. Do you think I could stay here with you for a while?”

“Of course,” Felicity scoots over to his couch and grabs his hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “You can stay for as long as you need. We will need to set you up with an identity though just so you don’t run into any trouble. Would you like a new name or keep Oliver Queen? I changed my name to Felicity Smoak in honour of my mother. I do love my father dearly but I thought I would try something a bit different in this different life. I know it’s overwhelming right now but it is quite wonderful. And better than being dead since I think we both had serious accidents and were headed for death in our old worlds.” 

“Oliver Queen will be just fine,” Oliver smiles at her as he envelopes her little hand with his. For some reason the fact that he initiates the touch causes Felicity to blush profusely. His heart flutters a little and Oliver ponders how he is going to survive the next few months in close proximity to this magnificent woman. He gives her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go.

“I think I better start earning my keep around here by making you an edible dinner Felicity.” Oliver gets up and starts to clear their two plates.

“You can cook?” Felicity squeals, clapping her hands together looking positively delighted. He grins at her with an amused look on his face.

“A little bit and certainly better than you,” he teases Felicity.

Suddenly out of nowhere Felicity stands on her tippy toes and kisses his cheek. The effect is electric and Oliver swears he could feel a million warm and fuzzy sparks coursing through his body.

“I have always wanted to be good friends with a man,” Felicity informs him cheerfully with a hint of shyness. “We are going to be great friends Oliver! In this world I can be as affectionate with you as I like without any gossip about my virtue.” 

She does a little twirl and drapes her bare arm around his waist, a bold look on her face. “I enjoy being able to demonstrate affection without judgment.” 

Oliver gives her a gentle hug in return wondering how on earth he was going to survive Felicity Smoak’s affectionate friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is more that could be written about them but I think some things are best left to the imagination! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> OLICITY IN EVERY UNIVERSE I say!

**Author's Note:**

> Soo how was that? Would love you hear your thoughts as I always wonder how these things translate culturally.


End file.
